Lost in Emotions
by Danax
Summary: Sakura has almost perfect relationship with Kakashi. She's happy, he's happy. They're in love. Then Tsunade sends her to a mission which will risk the relationship to test if it's strong enough and do they trust one another enough. [KakaSaku, ItaSaku]
1. The First Day of Fall

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**Summary: Everything is perfect in Sakura's life. She has a guy and shares a house with him. But what happens when she meets Itachi, the "bad-guy"? Who will she choose in the end?**

**Pairings: KakaSaku + ItaSaku**

**Rating: M**

**Genre: Romance/Drama**

**Sakura/Sasuke/Naruto/Ino: 22**

**Kakashi: 36**

**Itachi: 27**

_thoughts, flashbacks, dreams_

"talking"

----------------------------------

Sakura was standing in her office in front of the window. She was looking at nothing in particular: she was more like trying to relax because the day at the hospital had been very long and hard. The day wasn't even over yet!

One girls' heart had stopped and it had taken 8 long minutes for Sakura to get the heart beating again; one of her patients who had an Alzheimers had attacked her and it had taken 6 nurses to hold the old man down and she had gotten a nasty looking bruise to her right cheek.

For three weeks now, she had wished that Kakashi would come back from his mission: he always had the skill to make her feel great even when she had "killed" her patients. But most of all... she missed, so much indeed that it hurt.

She sensed Tsunade's presence near her office so she turned around and waited for her ex-sensei to come in. Well, it didn't take a long time, more like five seconds.

"Tsunade-sama, what are you doing here?" Sakura grinned.

"Ah. I was expecting a warmer welcome since I've got some good news!" the older woman laughed and sat to the chair which was placed in front of Sakura's desk.

"What news?" she asked. She was curious because she knew that Tsunade would tell her immediately when Kakashi's team would be back. Sakura had been waiting for Tsunade to tell her.

She knew that Sakura and Kakashi had a relationship. Almost everyone knew and almost everyone accepted the relationship. Of course there were people who were against it but usually Sakura kicked their asses... verbally, of course.

"I knew you'd be dying to know!" the blond haired woman laughed.

"Yes! Please tell me!" the pink haired woman almost yelled.

"Kakashi's team is here in 4 hours. We received the message from another team." Tsunade said.

First thought in Sakura's mind was 'HELL YEAH' and second thought was 'OH HELL NO'. She was more than happy that he would be back but not so soon, she would not have the time to prepare everything. She needed to clean, shop, cook and change her clothes and 4 hours would not be nearly enough!

"You may have the rest of the day off." Tsunade said like she had read Sakura's mind.

"Oh my god! Thank you so much. Gotta go!" she yelled from the hallway, already out the door.

"You've gotten faster... and the credit goes to the… beeper." Tsunade sighed as her beeper went off.

--------------------------

Kakashi watched the gates of Konoha from a tall tree.

"Alright, everyone! Let's move quickly back to Konoha, we need to get back there in 30 minutes!" he yelled to the other team members. They started leaping from branch to branch once again.

He looked to his left and saw Genma looking at him.

"What?" Kakashi asked.

"You've been with her like for one year or something?" his friend asked.

"Tomorrow it'll be exactly one year." he sighed.

"So, are you going to propose to her or something?" Genma asked, which made Kakashi almost fall from the branch he had just landed. "You haven't thought about that." his friend laughed.

"No. I haven't. You think I should… propose?"

"Don't ask me. I'm only good at getting them. Not keeping them." Genma laughed.

The thought of proposing to Sakura haunted Kakashi's mind all the way back to Konoha. It was like he was suddenly unsure of himself: he knew what he wanted but he wasn't sure what he should do. When he reached to Konoha with his team he decided. '_I'll give is some time and see what happens..."_ he though.

"Yo. We got to write a report tomorrow at the Jounin HQ so be there at 9:30 am." he said to his team and they just nodded and took off.

"And when are you gonna be there?" Genma asked.

"It depends how long I want to stay in bed." he answered truthfully and started walking towards the townhouse he lived in.

"Or how long someone wants to keep you in bed!" he heard Genma yelling.

_Exactly. It could be a long long long long… long time_, he thought smiling.

-------------------------------

He masked his presence before he turned the key in the lock and stepped in the house. He took of his shoes and crept into the kitchen. She was there, her back turned to him. He watched her for a moment, then moving over to her and wrapping his arms around her.

A small scream escaped from her lips: he had surprised her successfully. He unmasked his presence and started kissing her neck.

"Ah. Slow down. I've made sukiyaki." she sighed. He stopped kissing her neck after hearing the word sukiyaki.

"Sukiyaki?" he asked realizing how hungry he actually was. The last time he had eaten something had been 7 hours ago.

"Yeah. Turn around." she said and he turned around or more like turned the both of them around.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"It depends." she laughed.

"What?"

"Hungry for what?" she laughed.

"We have time." he said and kissed her neck.

"Yeah, but you need to eat now or I'll get pissed off 'cause the food is getting colder."

He sat down to a kitchen chair and she sat down to the other side of the table to another chair.

"How was your day?" he asked like he had never been on a mission and the evening was just a normal evening in their lives.

"Well. I delivered a baby to this world. A healthy boy. And—"

"—What's this?" he asked interrupting her and touching her right cheek.

"Ah, it's… Well, a patient attacked me: he thought I was an enemy ninja." she sighed.

"Did it hurt?" he asked and rubbed a bit the bruise.

"Why are you asking?" she giggled.

"Because I want to know." he said and took his hand away from her bruise.

"Well, it did hurt. But it doesn't hurt anymore", she smiled and drank a bit of her water, "so, how did your mission go?"

"It went well."

"You're not allowed to say anything…" she sighed.

"Sakura. It wasn't that interesting."

"I know, I know! I just wish that… We could share everything."

"Sakura—"

"—don't say it." she said quietly interrupting him. She was on the verge of tears and it wasn't only because of their conversation, it was because the day had been long and hard and now he was back and having that conversation. She knew exactly what he was about to say and she also knew that she would be hurt even though she shouldn't be.

"I'm sorry." he sighed.

"Don't be! I'm the one who should be sorry for… being… me…" she cried.

He had gotten up from his chair and he was hugging her.

"I'm so sorry! I'm just stressed and then I missed you so much and now I'm hurt 'cause some stupid ninja rules." she cried to his shoulder.

"It's ok." he whispered.

"I love you." she sobbed.

"I love you too." he said and hugged her a little tighter.

-----------------------------------

_Was it just a dream? _Sakura's thought when she woke up and realized that she was in her bed. She blinked and watched the ceiling. _No, it had to be true. Oh my god… __And__ I had a mental breakdown. __Oh __no__… _

She turned to her left and someone had slept on it but it was empty at the moment.

"Kakashi?" she asked with her groggily sounding voice. But no one answered.

She sighed. "Sakura. It's Saturday, you don't have to get up. Don't get up." she said to herself and closed her eyes once again.

"Talking to yourself again?" she heard Kakashi's voice from the room. Her eyes snapped open and a smile spread across her face.

"Kakashi!" she screamed in pure happiness.

"Yes, it's me." he said and walked to the bed. Then she saw a tray on his hands, he was carrying her breakfast to bed.

"Oh my god! What is this?" she asked as he sat on the bed and put the tray next to her.

"What day is it?" he asked.

"Ah… The first day of fall." she smiled sweetly and gave him a kiss to his cheek.

_FLASHBACK_

_Sakura sat by the campfire and looked at Kakashi who was reading his Icha Icha Paradise. She wasn't sure how to react to his behaviour. She had kissed him the night before and he had kissed her back but now he just was like nothing had happened. _

_She sighed and walked to him and sat next to him. It was like he was avoiding her. _

"_You know. Today is the first day of fall." she sighed._

"_Hm? What does that mean?" he asked and he did not even look at her._

"_It means that it's the first day of fall." she said again. _

"_No one can define when fall comes." _

"_I just defined it", she said sternly but he didn't answer back so she continued, "but for the occasion, I wanna do something."_

_She turned to look at him and now he was staring at her. She moved to him and placed herself so that she was straddling on his laps._

_Before she could continue he spoke: "Sakura, I think that we should just forget what happened yesterday. You're too young." _

_His words hurt her but she didn't show it to him._

"_So what? Who the fuck cares that you're 14 years older than me!" she asked. _

"_People. Sakura. People care." he sighed and put his book away. _

"_Do you care? Would you regret it if you ended up being happy with me?" she asked. _

_He didn't answer. He showed no emotions in his eye. _

"_Fine. I'll be gone." she said and got off of him and walked to the forest._

_She just needed some huge tree to lean on. She cried all the way to the forest, silently of course. No one would hear her crying for him._

_When she found the perfect tree she just leaned on to it and cried harder. Maybe it was because she had developed some feelings towards Kakashi in the past few years or maybe just because she got rejected again. Whatever the reason was it still hurt. _

_Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, which startled her and made her heart almost jump to her throat. The hand forced her to turn around and there she was, watching Kakashi with eyes full of tears. He had taken his mask off and he did something which surprised her. He placed his lips over hers gently._

_When he broke the kiss he said: "Yes."_

"_What?" she asked with a shaky voice._

"_I'd regret it." he sighed and hugged her. _

_THE END OF THE FLASHBACK_

"The first day of September." she said.

"I have to go now. But I'll take you out later today." he said.

"Where are you going? I want you here with me! In the freakin' bed!"

"Sakura. We can be in the bed later. Right now, I have to go and write one report. Or do you insist me being late?"

"Gosh. You know I hate it when you're late. Fine, go." she said melodramatically and took the tray to her lap.

"I know. But I'll be back. In an hour or two." he laughed and left the bedroom.

"Ok. See ya later! I love you!" she yelled from the top of her lungs so that he would hear her.

-----------------------------------

Sakura walked towards the hospital when Naruto ran to her. He was breathing hard and sweaty.

"Uh. Naruto? Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Yes. Or. No. Sasuke. He. Found. Out. Where. Itachi. Is. And. Went. After. Him." he explained in between pants.

"Oh my god. Does Tsunade know?" she asked in a panic.

"Yes. I just. Told. Her." he said.

_Oh no_, she thought. Everything was going so fine. Sasuke had come back from Orochimaru's lair years ago and he seemed to be fine or better. He had gotten softer. He even tolerated Sai even though it had taken some time for him.

"What did she say?"

"That we won't lose anything if he kills Itachi and there's who could stop him." Naruto explained normally, he had regained his breath.

"So she accepts it? No way! What if Sasuke gets killed?"

"She won't send any teams to get him back. Tsunade wants Itachi dead."

"But… Unbelievable… Just unbelievable…" she sighed.

--------------------------

There were candles in the room, rose petals and a few jasmine incenses. He was leaning to the wall and still sitting on the bed when she was sitting between his legs her back against his chest. His arms were around her lower stomach making her feel safe and loved.

"You're quiet today." he said.

"Mmm." she mmm'ed.

"Is it because of Sasuke?" he asked.

"Yeah. It is. And now I'm ruining another night when we're supposed to have fun and—"

"—Sakura, we have time." he said.

"What if we don't? What if I'm dead tomorrow morning? What if you get a mission of some kind and get yourself killed? What if someone comes between us? What if you realize tomorrow that you're gay? What if you notice that you don't love me anymore and—"

"Stop that. That's not possible. I'm in love with you. No man or woman could do the same things that you do. And I won't get myself killed because I got a medic-nin who takes care of me and no one can possibly come between us and you won't be dead tomorrow." he explained, not once stopping for a breath.

"Ok... You convinced me." she sighed and decided to close her eyes for a second.

He smiled to himself as he realized that she had fallen asleep in his arms.

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**A/N: GAAA! Ok. The chapters for this story will be updated a bit slower than my other stories but that's because well, (hard to explain but) I'm trying to do better job in writing in this fic like in the writing area AND in the plot area… So I have to work harder, which takes a longer time.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**-danax**


	2. Afraid

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto its characters. ****I only own my plot and my OC's. **

**Ah, here's the chapter you've (hopefully) been waiting for. Enjoy! And remember to review!**

* * *

"_You whisper softly in my ear  
Makes me unwind  
The way you touch me  
Lets me know you're mine"_

_- Be with you by Beyoncé_

* * *

Sakura woke up feeling someone nuzzling her neck. She smiled a little with her eyes closed as she realized that it had been Kakashi. She smiled more for the fact that he had done it in his sleep. He even showed her his affection in his sleep. To her, it was one of the sweetest things in her life even though it meant waking up.

She opened her eyes and bit her lower lip as she thought of the man holding her. His both hands were wrapped around her stomach and her feet were tangled with his feet.

Slowly and carefully she turned around on the bed to her other side to face him. It was quite difficult because he was still holding her, but luckily, he didn't wake up. At least he didn't show any signs of waking up, which she was glad for because he had come home very late and tired the night before.

She looked at the clock on his nightstand; it was half past 8 am. She thought it was time to get up from the bed but she had no idea how she'd do it without waking him up. And, he didn't like it whenever she got up from the bed without saying a word.

She gave him a soft peck on his lips and his eyes slowly opened some seconds later. He was very tired; she could see that from his eyes.

"Kakashi", she said smiling, "I'll get up now but you should keep on sleeping."

"Okay, baby", he said quietly and turned to his left side.

She got off of the bed quickly and went to her closet and took some clean clothes with her before going to the bathroom.

She took a quick shower, brushed her teeth and got dressed. She wanted to do everything quickly because she was planning to make something for breakfast for her man before he'd wake up. And, he usually didn't sleep later than 10 am, which meant that she didn't have very much time.

Before she went to the kitchen, she went to take the morning newspaper from their mailbox. She placed the newspaper to the kitchen table and started making coffee. There would be no morning or day without a fresh cup of coffee.

She turned the radio on and started humming with some songs as she started searching for any ingredients which would make a good breakfast.

_I wonder how Sasuke is… Is he dead? Is Itachi dead? I hope Sasuke's alright_, she thought as she took a frying pan from a cupboard in order to start making a tomato omelette.

Before she could even place the frying pan to the stove, the doorbell rang. Sighing, she placed the cold frying pan to the kitchen counter and walked to the door. Ino was there.

"Ino! Hi!" Sakura smiled and let her come in.

"Hi, hi", the blonde haired woman smiled back and took her shoes off, "what have you been doing anyways?"

"Oh, breakfast. Want some?" the jade eyed woman said as they walked to the kitchen.

"Oh, no thanks. I already ate and besides, I'm on a diet. And, I can't be here for long."

"I hope you're still eating well. So, what brings you here?" Sakura asked as she continued doing the omelette.

"Oh, yeah, Hokage wants to see you and Kakashi at noon", the blonde haired woman said with a serious tone.

"At twelve o'clock? What is it about?"

"Sasuke."

"Is he okay?" Sakura asked with a worried voice.

"I don't know but apparently Tsunade-sama has found something out… Others will come there, too. Jounins and ANBUS. Sakura, this is big… Itachi and Sasuke, I mean", the blonde haired woman said quietly.

"I know", Sakura sighed and looked outside from the kitchen window.

"You… You're not still in love with him, are you?"

"No, I am not. I'm just… Worried, that's all. I mean, he was my team mate and still is. He's my friend; we spar together and go to a bar with Naruto. And, I don't want to lose that", the pink haired kunoichi explained.

"I know what you mean", Ino said and gave her a hug, "but I have to go now and find others and tell 'em about the meeting. I'll see you later!"

The blonde haired woman smiled and vanished with a 'poof' of smoke.

Sakura let out a deep sigh and went back making breakfast. The thoughts of Sasuke and his current situation ran in her head. She fell so deep in her thoughts that she failed to notice Kakashi coming into the kitchen.

He quickly wrapped his arms around her startling her. Before she could even start yelling at him, he had already started nuzzling her neck.

"Breakfast", he spoke quietly to her neck making shivers go down her spine.

"Is not my neck", she laughed a bit and he kissed her neck.

"Are you sure? This looks and tastes delicious", he said grinning.

"It could be your… your… hmmm… well, maybe at next night?"

"Oh… Sounds yummy", he laughed.

"Okay wild boy, get some omelette and start eating. We're to go to the Jounin HQ at noon. It's about Sasuke."

* * *

Kakashi and Sakura had been in the Jounin headquarters for some time now talking with their friends and trying to find out any new information because Tsunade hadn't showed up, yet. She was late, which meant that something big had happened. Ninjas had grown a bit restless as they realized it.

"I hope he's alright", Sakura thought quietly aloud.

"Me too", Kakashi whispered softly in her ear.

Tsunade came into the huge hall where everyone was in. "Okay people," she said loudly, "Sasuke and Itachi, they are alive, barely. They have suffered from severe wounds and we need 8 ANBUS to retrieve them back. Itachi will go to jail and be interrogated and Sasuke will get punished. They will also get the best hospital treatment. From this point forward, the whole village will be on a full alert. We will take no chances about this situation."

"Oh my…" the pink haired kunoichi said to herself.

"Teams Dark Water, Black Blood, Phoenix and Four Stars, you will make sure the village is secured. Itachi will not escape and he will not meet anyone. He'll only see the interrogation rooms and his cell." Tsunade spoke to the 4 teams and the teams left the HQ.

"The rest of you may leave except Genma, Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Neji, Kotetsu, Hayate and Tenten", she said and people started leaving the HQ.

"You'll leave tonight. Kakashi, you're the team leader on this mission. Sakura, make sure Itachi is heavily sedated all the time. Heal his and Sasuke's wounds so that their conditions will be stable. And even if Itachi is sedated, there will be at least 5 ninjas around him all the time", the Hokage said and gave a map to the copy ninja, "here's the map, their location is marked with a red cross."

"Questions?" she asked but as nobody asked for anything, she let them go home, eat and get their weapons ready for the mission.

* * *

The pink haired woman watched Kakashi who was sitting on their bed and sharpening his weapons. She knew he kept his weapons in top shape all the time.

"Have you already packed your things?" he asked not even lifting his gaze from the kunai he was sharpening at the moment.

"Yeah, I have", she said smiling a bit.

"Have you made sure that your weapons are sharp?"

"Yeah", she sighed.

He lifted his gaze from the kunai in his hands and looked at her, "It's gonna be alright. You heard Tsunade, Sasuke's alive."

"I… Yeah…" she sighed again.

She wasn't so worried about Sasuke anymore; she was worried of everything else. Her mind had taken over her some hours before and all the questions concerning her future were on her mind. She didn't know what she wanted anymore. She loved being a ninja, an ANBU, but she had started wanting other things too a family for example. She feared that Kakashi wanted to serve his Village to the end and not want to have a family. She feared that she might end up choosing between ninja life with Kakashi and a family with someone else. But, she wanted Kakashi not anyone else.

"Sakura? Have you heard a thing I've said?" he asked. He was standing right in front of her, his hands on her shoulders and his eye locked on hers.

"I-I-I… No…" she sighed for the third time.

"What's wrong? Did I do something or—"

"—No! You didn't do anything. It's just… I'm just… I, uh, well, just forget it, it's nothing important", she said to him not sure if she was trying to convince herself or him.

"You suck at lying", he said still staring at her.

"I know…"

"Hey, I love you, remember that", he said and embraced her tightly.

"I love you, too", she mumbled to his vest as tears fell down her cheeks.

"Now tell me, what's wrong?" he said and pulled away from the embrace. He pushed her to the bed and sat next to her.

"I… I'm just afraid of the future. I mean… I want things and what if they are different from what you want? What will happen to us?"

"What do you want then?" he asked.

"I want to be a ninja and still… have a family…" she sighed as if what she had just said was one of those dreams which will never come true.

"I want those things too", he said and caressed her cheek.

"Really?" she asked with a child like enthusiasm.

"Yeah, of course. You didn't know?"

"Uh… No, we've never talked of this before."

"Oh, we haven't?"

"No, we haven't", she laughed his absent mindedness.

"Oh, look at the clock, we should go", he said suddenly changing the subject because their next conversation would be about how he rarely opened up to her about anything. He didn't want to have any kind of argument with her at the moment. Or never.

"Since when have you wanted to be on time?" she sighed and got off of the bed with him.

* * *

"We'll leave as soon as everyone is here. We can't waste any more time", Genma said to Naruto and Sakura who were trying to hide the fact that they started to get bored waiting others to arrive.

"Is anyone there already making sure that Itachi won't escape?" Neji asked.

"Team Sudden Death is there, they've been there for some time now and they are wounded, too. That's why we should hurry", Genma said.

Hayate and Kotetsu were the last to arrive and as soon as everyone had greeted each other, they left Konoha and headed north towards a small town on which outskirts the Uchiha brothers were.

* * *

**A/N: I updated without my beta-readers... Hahaha. yeah, I have two. Anyways, let me know what you thought of this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW**


	3. Preventing a Wanted Death

**A/N: I do not own Naruto or its characters.**

* * *

The way to the outskirts of Small Leaf where Sasuke and Itachi were supposed to be wasn't long. Kakashi had said that it would take four to five hours for them to get there. The nearer they reached the place, the hazier everything became in Sakura's mind. The thoughts of her old team mate and his brother who betrayed their village occupied her mind. She was the leading medic ninja of their team and she would be responsible of the brothers' statuses.

She had a thought, a vision where she wouldn't heal Itachi. He would die and Sasuke would have his revenge. She knew she had to heal him, she knew how important he'd be for the village but still, she found herself hoping for his death.

"Sakura?" Neji asked. His question startled her; she hadn't noticed him at all. They were leaping from tree to tree with haste.

"Yeah?" she asked and quickened her speed a bit, she wasn't in a talking mood.

"I don't think you heard Kakashi as he told we would have a short break", the young man said making her stopped still on a huge branch.

"What?" she asked and looked around, there was only Neji around. She looked at him with questioning eyes.

"About 2 minutes ago, they're not far away. We're just taking a break to eat some chocolate or anything containing energy so we'll have strength to go back, too", he explained as she looked at him.

She was stunned, she hadn't had any idea. She had been too lost in her thoughts.

"Come, let's go", he said and started leaping to where they had come from. She followed her thinking about what Kakashi would say to her. It wasn't like her to lose herself in her thoughts and forgetting about everything else.

When they reached everyone else, no one asked any questions. Everyone was just eating or drinking something. The copy nin' only looked at her with questioning look in his eye but didn't ask anything. She only nodded at him telling him that nothing was wrong.

Neji gave her an apple, she ate it quickly. She had been so lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized that she was hungry.

* * *

They were almost there, they could sense the familiar chakras' and everyone hastened their steps. The pink haired kunoichi, Kakashi and Naruto ran towards the brothers as others went to secure the surroundings. A surprise attack was something they needed the least.

One ninja of the Sudden Death team was healing Sasuke as well as he could but Sakura could see he had only learnt the first few simple healing jutsus.

"What are their conditions?" she asked as she knelt down between the brothers.

"Sasuke had received a lot of internal bruises, some big, some small, his status isn't critical but if you weren't here…" the ninja's voice trailed off indicating that she had come on time to save them.

"And Itachi?" she asked looking at the older brother. She decided to forget her earlier thoughts about killing him; she needed to stay above the situation. She needed a clear mind to be able to heal the guys.

"His heart stopped beating 3 times. His barely breathing, there's blood in his lungs and he's received some head injury", he explained.

"Okay, I'll start removing the blood from his lungs but I need you to make sure he's heart keeps on beating", she said and received a nod as an answer.

She made a few hand signs and her hands started glowing green. Carefully she moved her hands to his chest. It was like removing poison from one's blood except it was more dangerous. One wrong move and his lungs would be destroyed. She thanked the heavens for having steady hands. Her hands cupped the blood from his lungs. As she got them out of his body, she threw the blood away to the ground.

"Is Sasuke still breathing and everything?" she asked from the man who was knelt down on Itachi's other side.

"Yes, but you will need to hurry this", he said and looked at her as she was healing his head injuries.

"There's some pressure in his brain", she said to herself, "we need to remove the pressure but make sure he stays in coma for some days… Do you know how to make anyone fall in a coma?"

"Yeah, I've seen it several times and made it once", he said.

"Okay, do it. I'll move to Sasuke", she said and turned around to see her old team mate.

His heart was barely beating, his heartbeat was too slow. She could see he had lost a lot of blood and he was almost out of chakra.

"Naruto!" she called him, she needed his help.

"Yeah?" he asked and knelt down to Sasuke.

"I need you to give some chakra for Sasuke, he's almost out of it and I'm quite afraid he won't survive the next night", she said quietly as she was healing his liver.

"Alright", he said and pressed his index- and middle finger to Sasuke's breastbone.

"Don't you die on me", she whispered as she didn't feel his heartbeat anymore. She waited a few seconds and it came back again, a bit stronger.

"Naruto? Are you…?" she asked but her sentence trailed off as she watched the colour of his chakra, it was blood red.

"I am", he said.

He was giving the Kyuubi's chakra to Sasuke. It had a healing effect and it clearly gave strength to their old team mate. It helped her job and gave some more time to heal him. The chakra was giving strength to his heart, which was just what he needed.

It started thundering and she cursed. The last thing she needed was a pouring rain and a bunch of ANBUS having a flu. She tried to heal Sasuke's internal wounds as fast as she could but she knew they'd get wet anyways.

"Hey, Sakura, look!! They are putting up tents!" Naruto beamed as if he had read her thoughts. He had given some chakra for his friend and now he was looking at his pink haired friend healing him.

"Thank God", she said and looked at the other ninja with them, "hey, what's your name?"

"Takuto", he said.

"Takuto-san, how is Itachi?" she asked looking at the man on the ground.

"He's successfully in a coma. The pressure in his brain is miraculously getting lesser and he's having a steady heartbeat", he explained.

"Alright, that's good. I think Sasuke will be alright in a couple of days. But he won't be allowed to train as hard as normally for a few weeks", she said looking at Naruto during her last sentence.

"Of course, of course, I'll leave him be", her blonde friend laughed.

A few raindrops hit Sakura's head and she sighed: "We need to get these guys in a tent right away."

She looked at the ninjas putting up the tents; there were already 3 tents ready. Kakashi and Genma were fighting with the last tent. Before she could even ask help from Naruto or Takuto in carrying the brothers to a tent, they were already on their way.

Kakashi walked to her and looked at his lover. "You look tired", he said and sat next to her.

"I am", she said feeling like she would fall asleep any second.

"Are the Uchiha's alright now? Can we leave tomorrow?" he asked looking at their tent.

"Yeah. Sasuke might even wake up tomorrow and he can walk on his own but not leap. And Itachi… he needs to stay in coma for a few days. So either someone teleports with him to Konoha or someone carries him."

"We'll have someone teleporting with him", he said and looked at her, "will you be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. Now go do whatever you're supposed to do", she said smiling and so he left.

She was tired, she hadn't much chakra left and she felt like she hadn't the strength to get up from the ground. So she just sat there as it was raining and thundering.

_There are 13 ninjas, four tents that makes three persons per tent in three tents and one tent having four persons. And Sakura, why, why on earth am I counting tents and ninjas? _, she thought to herself

The rain got heavier and people started crawling in their tents. Apparently they had already figured out who sleeps in which tent. She assumed she was sleeping in the tent where Sasuke and Itachi were.

She tried to get up from the ground but her legs gave in and she fell on her butt. She silently cursed herself and got up again. Her every muscle hurt and using only will power, she walked to the tent where the brothers were. When she got inside of it, she fainted right between the guys.

* * *

Sakura woke up with a start. She had had a nightmare and she had been able to wake herself up from the dream. In the dream she was fighting against her loved ones and they had killed her, many times.

The tent was dark and she couldn't see anything. For a moment she didn't remember where she was. She felt something warm on her right side, she traced her hand on the warm thing 'til she realized her hand was on someone's abs.

Quickly she took her hand back and crawled out of the tent. She saw Sasuke and Naruto sitting by a campfire. She was just about to start yelling at Sasuke for being up when she realized whose abs she had been touching.

_If Sasuke's not in the tent that means the only person with me in the tent was… Itachi_, she thought. She felt horrible. She tried not to think about the man in the tent but by trying not to think about him, made her think about him. She started remembering how his abs felt and she would've started screaming if Sasuke hadn't spoken: "Sakura, are you alright?"

She looked at him, she hadn't noticed him getting up and coming towards her.

"Me? Yes, perfectly, nothing's wrong. My abs don't hurt", she said quickly not even realizing what she had just said.

"What?" Naruto laughed.

She blushed and mentally slapped herself for being so stupid.

"Sasuke, you should be resting", she said sternly.

"I couldn't sleep", he said shortly and went back to sit near the campfire. She followed him, she didn't want to go back to the tent alone. It just didn't feel right to her. And she knew he couldn't escape in the state he was in. At least she had never heard anyone escaping anything while being in coma.

"What time is it?" she asked looking at yawning Naruto.

"Something past 3 am", he answered.

"Ah, okay. What were you talking about before I came?"

"Nothing", Sasuke said quickly before their blonde friend could even open his mouth.

"Alright… Sorry I asked", she said quietly.

"Sakura, it's not like that", the raven haired man said looking sternly at her, "we were just talking about what had happened before you came rescuing me."

She heard a tint of disappointment and sarcasm in his voice. It was as if he didn't want to be rescued. His words hurt her in a way, he sounded like she had done the wrong thing in healing them, like she had done it just to annoy him.

"You would've preferred that we hadn't come?" she asked.

"No… well, yes. I mean… It's, it's nothing Sakura, just forget it", he said angrily and started staring at the fire in front of him.

"Don't mind about him", Naruto said quietly trying to cheer her up.

"Naruto, it's okay. I'm okay", she said smiling. She knew why Sasuke was mad at her or at least she thought she knew. He had gone to kill his brother and maybe he too wanted to die and she had prevented their deaths. He wouldn't stay long mad at her because he was a ninja and he knew the rules. He knew she didn't do it on purpose just to annoy him but she was the only person he could "blame".

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**A/N: thank you for reading! Please review!**


	4. Anbu

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.**

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait for the new chapter!! My computer crashed, twice. And I had my birthday and testweek and I got a boyfriend and omg, so much has happened. Anywho, I'll be TRYING to update more frequently. Alright, go and read the chappie! Please review!! **

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**The team to rescue the Uchiha brothers had reached Konoha earlier around noon. Sakura had seen that the younger brother had gone to hospital and got his wounds healed. She had also gone to see the older brother and his status had been stable, he'd survive.

She had written her report as soon as she had been able. She had needed some time alone to think and clear up her mind. She had gone to walk in the park and somehow she had found herself at the edge of the town, sitting on the hill and watching the view.

A forest started from the bottom of the hill and it seemed to reach to the edge of the world. There were trees on the hill, too but not enough to make the hill be considered a part of the forest. The hill was quite high and she could see a river going through the woods. The water glimmered in the sunlight. She loved the view, it was one of the most beautiful ones in Konoha.

The place calmed her, it made her forget all of her worries and sad thoughts. The beauty of the view and the serenity of the atmosphere there made her oblivious to everything else. She always felt relaxed after spending some time there.

She wondered if she did the right thing by healing Itachi. She knew it was the right thing if she only thought about it in the shinobi's point of view. But when she thought about the whole thing from Sasuke's friend's point of view, she didn't feel like it was the right thing to do. Sasuke had left the village and searched for his brother in order to kill him. He would've succeeded if she hadn't healed them. But Sasuke wouldn't have died, too.

Sakura sighed and closed her eyes. She was tired of her thoughts and tired of life. She wasn't depressed or miserable, she just needed a change. Before she could start thinking again, she fell asleep.

* * *

As soon as Kakashi had finished his report, his old friend Genma had suggested that they'd go to some bar to drink a few beers. The Copy ninja had agreed to come a bit reluctantly, he wasn't a drinker but he hadn't better things to do either at the moment.

He was leaning to his elbows against the bar counter and listening to his friend talking. "Tsunade will offer a full pardon for Itachi if he changes sides back to ours, again", Genma said and drank some of his sake.

Kakashi didn't say anything back, he wasn't sure of what to think about that. He wondered how she could offer a full pardon when people themselves couldn't trust him. Of course, most of the highest ranking ninjas had been told about Itachi, that it was his mission to kill the Uchiha clan and that his mission had gone a bit wrong after Sarutobi's death.

But most people wouldn't trust the man not even if Tsunade explained the whole situation. Ninjas would have a hard time in trusting him again, also. And, it could cause riots and people losing faith in ninjas. Who knows, it might cause a civil war. Or at first, nobody would trust him but then little by little, he'd be able to prove himself and he would gain trust and everything would work out just fine.

"I doubt he will", the brown haired man sighed.

"Why? Wasn't he loyal to the Hokage of Konoha in the first place, so why wouldn't he become a ninja of Konoha again?" the Copy ninja wondered.

"You've got a point **but** think of how hard it would be, becoming a ninja of Konoha again when everyone despises you and thinks that you're a psychopath who killed his entire family."

"If he loves this country enough."

"You've got a point, again. He did it in the first place in the orders of the Hokage, which meant that his love for country won his love for his family."

* * *

'_Honestly… I'm tired of this job. I wanna go on missions again and kick some major butt'_, Sakura thought as walked to her office. She had finished her rounds and now there was only paperwork left. She didn't feel like a ninja anymore, she felt like a plain doctor who just happened to know extremely complicated jutsus. She wondered if she could win a battle anymore…

She sat down on her office chair and sighed deeply. Of course, there had been a time she had enjoyed only healing others and making sure the babies women gave birth were healthy and all but now, it all was plain boring. She had lost all the excitement and she missed having adrenaline rushes in her body. Though some certain Copy ninja made sure she had a lot of excitement and way too much adrenaline in her body at times but she missed all those in a field.

She looked at the phone on her desk and wondered if Tsunade would let her become a normal Jounin again and let her go on missions. Well, on dangerous missions.

She decided to go and see her, it would be better to try and ask than to sit and wonder.

Walking to the Jounin Headquarters where Tsunade's office was, she thought of how she should ask from her old teacher to let her be an active ninja again. It isn't the easiest thing to say to your supervisor that you're not happy with your current job, far from easy.

But her former teacher couldn't be angry at her for wanting to do something else, to serve your own village better and to just simply want more action. And, how she saw it, she would be a great asset in missions; she could heal nearly dead ninjas, which meant less casualties, she could paralyse just about anyone and interrogate the person, she knew how to fight. And, by combining her knowledge in healing and with fighting and offensive jutsus, she could fight almost as well as Kakashi with his Sharingan.

By the time she had reached the door Tsunade's office, she had grown very confident about being an active ninja again. She was grateful of it, being more confident about it made her look more serious about it, too. Not that she wasn't serious, but she knew herself and she would certainly look unsure without the just gained confidence.

She took a deep breath and knocked the wooden door in front of her twice.

"Come in", she heard Tsunade saying and went in.

As she walked to the chair in front of her teacher's desk, she became very aware of herself, that she was being looked at, that there was a small rush of adrenaline in her body and how nervous she actually was. She sat and did her everything to calm herself.

'_I'm not gonna die. I'm just going to ask one simple question. STOP BEING SO FUCKING NERVOUS!'_, she yelled at herself in her mind. It didn't help though.

"Is this about Itachi? Has he woken up? No, you would've called me if he had…"

"What? Itachi? No, no. I doubt he'll wake up today", she said, "I came here with different reasons. Nothing about Itachi."

"Oh, alright, I'm all ears", Tsunade smiled, which made the pink haired ninja feel a bit better. It reminded her that the Hokage wasn't a monster, just a human, just another woman.

"I want to start doing missions again", she said. For some seconds, that seemed like minutes to Sakura, the lady Hokage stared at her. She started losing her confidence under the burning stare but she tried her best not to show it.

"Have you spoken with Kakashi about this?"

Major mistake, she hadn't talked with Kakashi about that, once again, she had done a rushed decision and she hadn't thought it over and over again. She knew perfectly well that he'd want to know before she made any big decisions and especially about becoming an active ninja again.

"It seems not… Sakura, are you sure about this?" Tsunade said. Sakura could feel her former teacher reading all the emotions and thoughts from her face.

"Yes, it is **my** choice after all. And, he'd just talk me out of this and the thing is that, I do not want to be talked out of this", the younger woman said meaning every word. She was surprised by her own words, they had just fallen out of her mouth.

Again, Tsunade looked at her sternly saying nothing. Sakura was about to say something but her former teacher was faster: "I was kind of hoping you'd say that…"

"What?" she asked. She hadn't expected that kind of reaction, far from it actually.

"I need you in the field, there are not enough medics and certainly not enough medics with good fighting skills", the lady Hokage explained never drawing her stare from her ex-student.

"So… um… When do I start?"

"In a week or so, but you'll still be the head of the hospital 'til I nominate you as—"

"—wait, what? Nominate me? No, no, don't say—"

"As an ANBU member, Sakura, I've been thinking about this for a year now. And you've proved yourself, you're perfectly capable of doing S-ranked missions and—"

"—wait, what? S-ranked missions?"

"Stop interrupting me! I said you've proved yourself and you will be an ANBU in a few weeks. You'll do your first five missions with another ANBU member, just in case. But other than that, congratulations", the Hokage smiled.

Sakura didn't know what to say, didn't know how to say anything. She just wanted to do some missions again, maybe assassinations, not S-ranked missions, not to be an ANBU, Hokage's personal bodyguard.

"Sakura? God, I knew you hadn't thought about this enough. I think I might—"

"—no, it's cool. Thank you. Just don't… throw me a party. Alright?"

"I don't know about that… See, if you want the position, you have to agree to **my **orders. ANBUs are the Hokage's personal bodyguards and ninjas, the best of the best. And now, by saying that I shouldn't let them throw you a party, you're trying to affect to **my** decisions when you should be agreeing anything **I **say."

"Um, sorry", she smiled. She did her best not to scream and jump and laugh. Secretly, she had always wished to become an ANBU but never, never even in her wildest dreams, she thought it would be possible. Her nomination would prove everyone that she was good enough. She wouldn't have to try and prove herself anymore.

"Sakura… before you tell anyone else, tell Kakashi. He'll be angry if he hears it from anyone else but you."

"Oh. Yes, I know… Alright, can I go now?"

"Yes, go", Tsunade laughed as the pink haired ninja sprinted out of the room.

* * *

Sasuke walked around the streets of Konoha. He wasn't sure of himself anymore. Everything he had believed in had come crushing down. He had heard about Itachi being nearby of Konoha and he went after him, to avenge for his… their family. During their whole battle, Itachi hadn't attacked him even once, he had just avoided his attacks. He had tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen.

He had tried using a Shadow Death jutsu that Orochimaru had been trying to teach him and it hadn't worked very well. The Shadow Death had split in two and attacked both Sasuke and Itachi. It nearly killed them both. He regretted using that jutsu and part of him wished that he had just listened to his brother.

Part of him wondered if Itachi would ever forgive him. But he tried to diminish and kill that part of him. He shouldn't even be thinking about forgiveness, he killed their whole family. Even if it was with Hokage's orders, Sasuke couldn't accept the fact that his brother hadn't turned down the mission and try to find another way do solve things out.

He resented the third Hokage, why did he have to order all the Uchiha's to be killed? Were they **that** bad in the end?

'_Am __**I**__ that bad…?' _

He couldn't take his thoughts anymore, he was starting to have a head ache and he felt like he needed someone to actually listen to him. It was a feeling completely new to him, he wanted to share his thoughts with someone.

He thought about talking to Naruto but somehow… he felt like Naruto wouldn't understand completely. Then he thought of Sakura, she had always listened to him when he had talked. He decided to find her and talk with her. She was his safest option.

It wasn't hard to find her because as he passed the Jounin HQ, she ran out of the building to him.

"Sasuke!" she exclaimed happily. She was about to hug him but decided not to and backed away a couple of steps, "what are you doing here?"

"Just walking… I was actually looking for you", he said.

Her pager went off, both of their attentions turned to it. "Oh… Um, mind walking with me to the hospital then?" she asked and stuffed the pager back to her pocket.

"Sure."

They walked quite far without saying anything. She knew it would do no good by trying to push him to tell what he was about to say. She didn't mind the silence either, it was comfortable. She could dwell in her thoughts and he could in his, it was simple.

Sasuke on the other hand, didn't know how to start. He rarely shared his thoughts with anyone. He wasn't a very social person. Part of him wanted to keep quiet but he knew that if he didn't talk, he'd spend many nights awake and thinking. Even his rational thinking told him that talking was the easiest way to sort things out.

"Thank you", he said and looked at her. She seemed lost in her thoughts, too.

"Huh?"

"You saved me… and Itachi."

"Oh that, it was my mission", she smiled.

"I guess", he said and kept a pause, "my jutsu… backfired me. And, I guess I regret it now, using that jutsu."

She turned to look at him but didn't say anything.

"I wonder why he didn't pass the mission… why we followed Sarutobi's orders and killed… everyone", he said quietly.

"Sasuke… I… It's good that you're talking about this, and I'm really proud of you for that. But you know… You have to talk about this with him, it'll haunt you as long as you talk with him", she said quietly.

"I know", he said, "but I just don't understand. He ruined my life… I wanted power to avenge for my family. I got power but the price was high, I tried to avenge and when I was there lying nearly dead, I felt worse. I felt that I'm just like him, killing my family."

"Sasuke, that's not true", she said and looked at his eyes.

He noticed they had stopped walking and looked around, they were in front of the hospital.

"Want to try to get some answers?" she asked and looked at the many windows of the hospital.

"Huh?"

"He's awake."

"Oh… Not today", he said.

"Okay, well… See you around", she smiled.

"Yeah, good night", he smiled a little, too and walked away.

She was happy for the improvement Sasuke was showing her. He was becoming more human, sharing his thoughts. She felt happy for being the one he could trust. Of course, some years earlier she would've started planning a marriage after a conversation like that and that would've done no good. It was easier for him to share things when they both knew what it meant; friendship.

She walked to the other brother's room, he was already sitting and wearing his own clothes.

"Excuse me, where are you going?" she asked angrily, she hated when patients did that, tried to escape and go home.

He just looked at her and didn't say anything. He got off the bed and tried to walk out of the room but she blocked his way.

"I'm talking to you. Where do you think you're going?" she asked again.

"Anywhere."

"Then turn around and go back to bed. You're not allowed to leave hospital tonight. Maybe tomorrow but certainly not today", she said and childishly she put her hands on his stomach and started pushing him back to the bed. For her surprise, he didn't fight back.

"What did you two talk about?" he asked as he was being forced to sit on the bed.

"What?"

"You and Sasuke. I saw it from the window", he said and stared at her.

His stare felt like it pierced her. Even Kakashi's staring didn't ever feel her like that.

"Couldn't read it from our lips?" she laughed.

"You were too far away", he smiled to her.

"Just his thoughts", she said. She checked the papers on his nightstand, the nurse had checked all the basics and written them down. "Everything seems normal… Stay here for the night and I'll come by first thing in the morning and then you can leave when I say so."

"If you insist", he sighed.

"Yeah, I do. And, Tsunade should come here any moment so stay awake", she said and walked out of the door.

* * *

Kakashi woke up in a way he hated waking up by an alarm clock going off. His eyes shot open and he looked to left side where Sakura was sleeping. Her hand slammed the clock and the horrible noise stopped. It was something past 6 am.

He heard her moan and she got up into a sitting position. Her hair was messy and her eyes half closed. Just as she was about to get off of the bed, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him.

"I have to get up", she sighed but didn't try to get from his arms.

"No, you don't need to", he murmured to her neck and hold her even tighter, "you really don't need to."

"I have to… you know that."

"No, I don't", he smiled to himself and bit the back of her neck. He knew how she loved that, how she got every time he bit her and how she couldn't resist him when he did that.

"Ah", she moaned.

He bit her again from her shoulder. "Sakura, you are not going."

"But…"

He started kissing her neck and stripping her from her pyjamas which were actually his old shirt.

It wasn't very often when Kakashi became like that, obsessive, controlling and demanding. And every time he became all of those things, she couldn't resist him. Those moments and days were the ones she enjoyed the most. Those days were the ones that had taught her that pain with pleasure is something worth of experiencing.

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**A/N: Ah, I like this chapter. Please review!! Message me if you have anything, anything, anything to say or ask or anything. 3**


	5. An Old Photograph

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Naruto or its characters. Sorry. But I do own this plot of mine.**

**A/N: Yay! A new chappie!! I have matriculation examinations in a few weeks so I won't be updating before them. Well, if I do, I'll be soo screwed... :S And I got a new computer!! Double-yay! Oh, if you wish to be a story filter in my book, please e-mail me. And please review!**

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Kakashi was sleeping late and Sakura was happily doing the house chores such as cleaning up the kitchen and living room. As she was dusting the bookshelves she found some photo albums that caught her attention. She took a few of them and sat down on the floor. She loved cleaning up because she always found some old things that she loved looking at and reminiscing.

She opened the oldest of those albums. There were old pictures of young Kakashi and his parents. She saw a few pictures of his mother. In one of the pictures there she was standing in the middle of a park, her hair swirling in the wind. She was smiling and waving at the camera. She was very beautiful. She had long black hair and black eyes. Her smile was very warm and Sakura realised from who Kakashi had inherited his smile.

Kakashi's father was as handsome as his son was. The resemblance was amazing. The only differences in then was their eyes and jaw. The Copy ninja had inherited his mother's jaw and eyes, very warm eyes they were indeed.

The next album was full of pictures of Sakura's childhood and because she didn't want to start reminiscing those times, she didn't bother to start examining those pictures.

The third album had pictures of Sakura and Kakashi together. There was even a picture of them kissing. Genma had taken the photo; she remembered that she thought that nobody was looking at her and Kakashi so she kissed him. Suddenly there had been a flash of light and he had been there with a camera.

She decided it was time to get back in cleaning up so she got up from the floor and put the albums back in their places. As she placed them back into the shelf in front of her, a picture fell out from one of the albums.

She picked it up from the floor and examined it. It was a picture of a woman and the moment Sakura saw the picture, she recognised her. It was Kakashi's ex-girlfriend, Aiko. She was very beautiful; she had long brown hair and big, warm, brown eyes. She was very small and the jade eyed kunoichi could tell from the picture that Aiko wasn't a ninja; she didn't have any muscles or scars. The woman in the picture looked like the kindest woman in the Earth. It made her feel something unpleasant, jealousy, envy or hate... maybe all of them.

She put the picture back in to the album and continued cleaning up but with a rage this time. She hated feeling jealous and the same time knowing that there was no reason for that.

* * *

Itachi was sitting on his hospital bed staring outside through the window. He was still waiting for him to be sent home though he had no home to return to. He sighed and continued staring out of the window.

"You're still here?" Tsunade asked from the doorway in a surprised tone. He said nothing nor did he move.

"Wasn't Sakura supposed to send you home?" she asked.

"Yes", he answered and still looked out of the window.

"And?"

"She didn't come", he said and turned to look at the Hokage.

"Well, I'll be releasing you then but would you come by my office before that?"

"Ok."

Both of them teleported there, that way they saved time and the trouble from having one of those awkward small talk conversations.

Tsunade walked to her desk and sat on the chair behind the desk. Itachi sat on the chair at the other side of the table.

"About your mission", she said and handed over a check to him, "it's the check and I've found you an apartment if you wish to stay here."

"Thank you", he said and looked at the check. The sum of it bothered him, it was three time as much as the previous Hokage had promised.

"I know you've not lived here in a long time... But you still have the title of ANBU and you're still a citizen of Konoha."

"I will stay."

"Okay, here's the address for your new apartment. You can talk to your landlord about the rent and rental contract", she said and gave him a piece of paper with a key taped on it, "welcome back."

"When will be my first mission?" he asked.

"In a few weeks or in a month. You will do a few missions with a partner first."

"Who will that be?" he asked. He was surprised from her words; he knew that nobody wanted to do missions with him. Nobody trusted him and he didn't trust anyone.

"Haruno Sakura."

"The pink haired girl?" he asked with a more surprised look on his face.

"Yes."

* * *

As Kakashi woke up, he was a happy man. More than happy, he was on top of the world. The only thing that would've made his late morning or early day better was that the girl, no the woman, who had taken him on top of the world, would've been next to him... naked.

Groaning happily he got off of the bed and took his boxers from the floor. He put them on and went downstairs where she would be.

He practically jumped the stairs down. He noticed the apartment was shining clean and the intriguing smell of breakfast filled his nostrils and mind.

'_God, I love life'_, he thought as he walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, love", he smirked and sat on the kitchen chair by the table.

There were two coffee cups, the morning newspaper, bread, cheese, butter and yoghurt on the table. There was a small vase with lilies in it, too.

"Morning", Sakura smiled and placed a plate in front of him. There were eggs and beacon.

"Have you cleaned the whole house and cooked all of this in just a few... hours?" he asked and looked at her questioning, "and wearing that?"

"Huh?" she was puzzled and looked at her clothing, "oh..."

"Yeah", he laughed. She was only wearing woman's boxers and his t-shirt.

"Well, I could be wearing less clothes. But yeah, I was... I wasn't thinking very clearly as I started cleaning up. I just needed something to do cuz I couldn't sleep anymore", she explained and placed another plate on the table. She sat down and started to eat her portion of beacon and eggs.

"So, what are your plans for today?" he asked and drank some coffee.

"Hmmm. Tsunade wants me to drop by the office and then I'll know who my partner will be and maybe check out that everything's going fine at the hospital."

"Sakura, are you really 100 percent sure about this?" he asked with sad smile.

"Yes, I am", she said and looked at the clock, it was 2pm, "Oh no! I forgot Itachi! Oh no, oh no, I gotta go!" She dashed out of the kitchen.

She got dressed as fast as she could and teleported right into Itachi's hospital room but only to found it to be empty.

"He left like 20 minutes ago", a nurse said from behind her.

"Alone?" Sakura asked and turned around to see the person talking to her

"No, with the Hokage-sama", the nurse said went to the bed with a pile of clean sheets.

"Damn... I'd better go and find them", she sighed, "but thanks anyways."

"You're welcome."

She left the hospital and went to the Hokage's office in the Jounin Headquarters. She didn't bother to teleport or even run, she wasn't in a hurry anymore.

She felt bad for ditching Itachi like she had without any word. She felt weird for feeling that because she didn't know him or care about him.

She had reached the Jounin HQ and soon find herself in the Hokage's office.

"Finally", Tsunade grinned. She was behind her desk as always but there was no high stack of papers on the table.

"Who did you make do your paperwork?" Sakura laughed and sat down on the chair in front of the desk.

"Ha-ha", the Hokage fake-laughed, "so, where were you this morning?"

"In bed", the younger woman giggled. There was no point in lying, Tsunade knew her too well and always knew when she was lying.

"Oh, I was going to give you a lecture but—"

"—but every woman needs sex sometimes so you decided not to lecture me?" Sakura cut the older woman off.

The Hokage looked at her with a shocked expression on her face: "No, I was going to say that you've been working too hard lately and that it's good that you slept late."

"Oh", the pink haired woman said blushing.

"I've decided your new partner and it's going to be Itachi-san."

Sakura's jaw dropped. _'Excuse me, what?'_ she thought and she managed to say: "Oh."

"He's an ANBU and the only way I can let him start doing his missions again is by making him do missions with a partner first. And, I trust him to keep you safe and maybe teach you a few tricks", Tsunade explained.

Learning a few things from Itachi sound good to her, she loved learning and as far as she knew, he was good at being a ninja so the odds were that she'd learn something amazing.

"Alright, you're dismissed."

As she walked out of the Jounin HQ, she decided she needed some "I'm in a shock and I want to eat" –food. She headed to the nearest grocery store to her home.

When she reached the fruits section, she bumped into her new partner.

"Oh, hi", she muttered and tried to avoid his gaze.

"Hi", he said and looked at her sternly, it seemed to make her feel uncomfortable and he wondered why.

"I'm sorry about this morning", she started looking at the apples behind him, "I got held up."

"Better not make it a habit", he said and walked to the pears next to the apples. She followed him.

"What?"

He took a couple of pears and put them into a paper bag. He sighed; he wasn't used to explaining himself or what he had said. "That we're gonna be partners and I need to be able to trust you."

"Oh yeah... So, what are you doing here?" she asked. To him, it seemed like she was desperately trying to keep the conversation going. He didn't understand that. He had used to be in silence if there was nothing important to say, life was simpler that way.

"Shopping. I got an apartment near here and I needed some food", he said and half smiled.

"Oh yeah, you're gonna stay. That's nice!" she said smiling. It seemed genuine, her happiness for him. It confused him, it wasn't something he had faced in the past years.

"Okay, I need strawberries", she laughed and went to the section with berries and this time, he followed her.

"So, where do you live?" she asked as she took a plastic packet of strawberries.

"Hmm? Why do you need that information?"

"Well, we could walk together if it's in the same direction as my house. I'm going home, too."

* * *

Genma looked at Sakura and tried to smile reassuringly but she didn't seem to notice. Of all things unexpected, their friendship had been the most unlikely to happen. Nobody had foreseen that they'd be best friends.

"I just... I feel that she's going to return and take everything from me", she almost cried and drank down her cocktail.

They were at the local bar, drinking and talking. It wasn't the kind of bar which had a dance floor and a lot of young people. There were just tables and a jukebox. There were pictures of famous ninjas on the wall and everything was either dark brown or red. The tables, chairs and the bar counter were dark brown and the walls were warm red and there were some red lamps here and there.

"Bartender, a battery with vodka for her", he said to the man passing their table. The bartender nodded and went back behind the counter.

"I saw a picture of her today and she's so beautiful. Really, really beautiful", now she cried.

Every time she needed a friend apart from Kakashi, he'd be the first one she'd call. And, every time he needed a friend, he'd call her. She'd help him out with his messy relationships and he'd listen to her worries. Their friendship worked in both ways.

"But Sakura", he started and looked straight into her eyes, "you're beautiful, too. And, what they had... It's in the past now. They wouldn't get back together. Never."

"What happened then?"

"I... It's not my business to tell, it's Kakashi's and if he decides to tell you, then you'll know", Genma sighed.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, kind of."

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**A/N: Please, please, please review. Love you guys!! -Danax**


	6. Insecurities

**A/N: I'm back! Yay! With a new chapter! Double-yay! Now, I'd really appreciate some reviews WITH some CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM! Thank you. Now scroll down and read.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.**

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Sakura took all the small glass bottles, packets and small plastic bags full of spices out of their ordinary cupboard. She checked the expiration dates, threw away the expired ones and rearranged the still good ones back into the cupboard. When the spice cupboard was all cleaned up, she decided it was time to wash the windows.

Cleaning up was easy, she didn't need to think and time flew when as she washed or reorganized something. Tidying things up was a habit for her which she did whenever she was nervous, scared or too anxious except when she cleaned up for being too nervous, she did it neurotically. There could be no spots anywhere, everything had to be shining.

'_Gawd, what am I doing? It's already clean enough'_, she thought as she practically threw herself in the closet which was full of chemicals to wash different kinds of surfaces. She took a bottle of some kind of substance which would be perfect for washing windows. Then she almost slammed the door of the closet shut and walked to the nearest bathroom. She took an empty bucket and poured some of the washing up stuff into it.

Her hands were shaking and she felt something stinging her eyes. She didn't know if it was the chemicals or her desperate cry to need but she started weeping. The bottle fell from her hands to the floor and soon afterwards, she fell, too.

Nothing mattered anymore, she felt as if her heart was breaking. As if she'd lost the most precious person to her. She wondered how long it would be before Kakashi would get back with Aiko. Her thoughts from how he'd say her name and how he would hold her, kiss her. It hurt, she felt unbearable pain in every part of her body and she wished she didn't exist anymore.

She felt warm hands around her and soon she was pulled up to a sitting position against someone's chest. She couldn't hear a thing, think anything or see anything. She felt her body rocking back and forth slowly and slowly she started regaining her senses and thoughts.

"Sakura, can you hear me? What happened?" Kakashi asked. He was in a panic, he didn't know what had happened and she looked like somebody had died.

"Kakashi", she cried and gripped his shirt. She pulled herself as close to him as she could and kept on crying.

He just kept rocking her carefully. He would wait as long as he had to. He knew forcing her to talk wouldn't do any good. He caressed her head and found it sticky. He looked around and saw an empty bottle of Mr. Shining Windows.

"I… I'm sorry", she cried.

"For what?" he whispered.

"I… I had doubts and I went looking for trouble."

"Huh?"

She loosened her grip on him, leaned back a bit to see his face. "I found this picture of… Aiko. And then, I thought that you might still want her back. And Genma told that I shouldn't worry. And still, I went looking her. And I found her. And, and… And she was so beautiful. Really. And I thought she might want you back, too. And then… I started thinking how you'd kiss her and hold her and—"

"—Sakura, stop it!" he cut her off, "I haven't seen her in years. I haven't thought about her in years. I haven't been in love with her in ten years. I am in love with you, you are my life."

"I know", she started crying again, "I feel b-bad for th-thinking like that. I'm so sorry."

He shushed her and started rocking her again, waiting for her tears to dry.

"I feel bad", she said after some time.

"Don't", he said shortly. He didn't want to talk about his past relationship with Aiko. It brought too many bad memories but he didn't want to make her feel threatened by something non-existing thing between him and Aiko. There was nothing between them. They didn't even see each other on the streets anymore, he had deleted her from his life and she had done the same.

"We should get you cleaned up. You're all soapy and Mr. Shining Windows won't do any good for your hair and skin, I think", he said. He got up and helped her get up, too.

She didn't answer. He turned the tap of the bathtub on and carefully, undressed her. He knew from his experience with women that hot shower or bathing cures everything. He held his hand out for her and she accepted it and climbed into the bathtub. He took his clothes off, letting them drop on the cold floor. He climbed into there, too. He sat behind her and she leaned her back to his chest.

He took the shower and rinsed away all the Mr. Shining Windows from her hair and skin. She let out a small sigh and he knew that the hot water was working, it was healing the wounds of her soul or whatever the hot water did to women in pain. He placed the shower back to its holder and took a bottle of shampoo that she usually used. He placed small amount of the green liquid soap to his hand and started massaging the shampoo in her hair and her scalp. He felt her body relaxing and her breathing becoming heavy. He rinsed the water from her hair and placed a gentle kiss on her wet hair. She was already asleep.

"Let's get you out of this tub", he muttered to himself and got off of the bathtub. He picked her carefully up trying not to wake her.

"Mmm", she hummed.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to wake you up", he said quietly.

"It's okay…" she said and slowly opened her eyes.

"Let's dry you up a bit and then I'll carry you to bed", he said smiling and he placed her on the floor so that she was standing though leaning on him.

"Alright… But you do the drying. I'm too tired to lift my arms", she mumbled to his chest.

"Sure", he laughed and took a pink towel from behind him from the towel rack.

* * *

It was a late morning and Sakura was still in bed. She felt humiliated; she didn't want to face the world after yesterday. She had been stupid to think that Aiko could replace Sakura's position in Kakashi's life. She felt as if the whole world knew of her little trip to the flower shop and now they'd laugh at her. And, even though she was strong; she could take almost anything up from anyone but sometimes she started feeling like a little helpless girl again. She always felt like that after making a stupid (girlish) mistake.

She huffed and took the pillow under her head and placed it on her face.

It was her day off, again and Kakashi was somewhere. He had left early in the morning while she had been still sleeping.

She peeked from under the pillow at the clock and groaned. She knew if she didn't get up now, she'd waste the whole day in bed. And she knew that if she got up now, she'd be pretending to be all happy and cheerful the whole day and she'd be exhausted the rest of the week.

"Impossible. This is impossible", she groaned and got up from the bed. She walked to her closet, took the first shirt and pants that her hand reached. She put them on and jumped back to bed; she wasn't ready to face the world, not yet.

Even though Kakashi had an amazing job convincing that she was the only woman in his life, she still felt insecure about Aiko. That was one of the things she hated about herself; she knew the facts but she couldn't fight her feelings away with facts (nor soft but intense love making).

There was a flutter in her stomach and her left leg twitched slightly as she thought of the night before. He had been so gentle…

"Ah", she sighed. _'I'll count to then and then I'll get up. I have to get up. I can go downstairs and drink some coffee. Then I can crawl back to bed if I need to… Okay… One, two, three, fou------r, fi------ve... _(there was a long pause in thoughts) _six, seven, eight… ni----ne. _(now there was an even longer pause in thoughts) _ten', _she thought and slowly got up from the bed.

The sun had painted the kitchen light yellow and she could hear some birds twittering outside. It was as if Mother Nature was mocking her, well, maybe not but she felt like it. Usually when she felt sad and insecure, the nature was amazingly beautiful. Sometimes, she liked being sad and she liked wallowing but Mother Nature seemed to have a problem with that.

She walked to the coffee machine and started making some of that famous dark, sinfully tasteful liquid. She went to sit by the table to wait for the black heaven to be ready for her and only for her.

There were the morning paper and an orange book on the table. Hesitating a bit, she picked up her lover's book and opened it. She read the first page and decided it was for the best not to keep reading it. She put it back to the table and started reading the morning paper.

In the section of lifestyle and culture, there was an article about Konoha's best flower shops and Aiko's shop was first on the list. There was a picture of her, she was smiling widely, her hair was loose and she was holding a white lily. She looked so beautiful.

Sakura found herself just staring at the picture of her. She sighed and looked up. She needed to look somewhere else for a moment and regain her thoughts. Noticing the coffee was ready, she stood up and went to the cupboards to get a big mug.

'_The bigger the mug, the better coffee'_, she thought smiling, _'yummm.'_

She added a drop of milk to her coffee. She smelled it and licked her lower lip. She held the cup close to her lips but did not drink it. She looked it and inhaled the heavenly scent in her system.

"Should I be worried?" she heard Kakashi's voice from the doorway. She startled and jumped a little but luckily not enough to spill the coffee.

"Huh? About what?" she asked staring at him with wondering eyes.

"Two reasons. One, you were having a private moment with that cup of coffee. You were teasing yourself with it. And two, you let your guard down", he laughed and went to sit by the table on the chair she had sat moment earlier.

"Oh, haha, the coffee. Um, yeah. I read a page of your… book. And realized that I need a private moment with someone and since you weren't here, coffee was the next best thing", she laughed and took a sip from the black heaven.

"What's this?" he asked. She could see his gaze was locked on the article in front of him.

"I… Uh… Was reading the paper and… well, uh, they made article about her flower shop", Sakura said and looked out of the window. Now, she was officially scared. She kept thinking how he would feel now that he'd see a new picture of her in which she was beautiful, if he got any flashbacks of them together. She quickly shut her eyes and brought the mug to her lips.

"Sakura", he said from behind her, "try to reason this. I have no feelings toward her. She's not a part of my life in any way."

She opened her eyes and looked at the people walking at the street they lived at, "I know. But I'm a… I'm a woman and an irrational creature."

He laughed softly and wrapped his arms around her.

"But…" she continued.

"What?" he asked. He had a tone in his voice telling her that he wasn't pleased that she still wanted to continue talking about his ex.

"Was… was the sex better?" she asked quickly.

He started laughing.

"What?" she asked and turned around in his arms.

"Was the sex better?" he laughed, "no, definitely not."

"Okay", she said and drank the rest of her coffee.

* * *

It was past 6pm and Sakura walked into the Jounin HQ. When Tsunade had started as a Hokage, she had made some changes around the HQ. For example the HQ consisted of one big hall and some smaller offices and Tsunade's office room. The hall had a kitchen, a lot of sofas and coffee tables. There was also a table for poker playing (Tsunade's idea, of course) but it had become quite popular.

She looked around and saw a lot of people she wanted to talk to but one person (not a friend exactly) caught her attention; Itachi, he was at the coffee maker trying to make it work.

She felt angry seeing him but not because she didn't want him to use the coffee machine but because no one wanted to show him how to do it. She decided it would be her that would take the first step. She walked to him.

"Hi", she said smiling a little, "need help?"

He turned around to see her, "uh… yeah."

"This machine is hard because it's new and SUPER! Haha, yeah, we bought a new one because there are too many coffee addicts hanging out here", she explained as she checked the coffee powder, water and turned the machine on.

"Thanks", he said but a bit awkwardly.

"It's okay. I guess… I guess people aren't being very helpful."

"No, but it's ok."

"They just need some time to get used to you", she said.

There was a long pause from talking and she laughed a little. "You don't talk much."

"No."

"Noticed, no wonder you two are brothers", she grinned and walked away to where a bunch of her friends were.

"Sakura", Ino squealed as she sat next to her, "he's so hot. What did you talk about?"

"Uh… Coffee", Sakura said, "and well, yeah, that's about it." Everyone was staring at her; Ino, Genma, Kurenai, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Neji and Hinata.

"What?" she asked, "he's a fellow ninja and he didn't know how to use the coffee maker."

"Sakura, none of us hinted anything", Neji said matter-of-factly.

"Oh."

"So, tonight, we'll be hitting the bar! Party!!" Ino laughed.

"Oh yes, we have some celebrating to do", Genma grinned and poked Kakashi to his ribs with his elbow.

"Will tonight be one of those nights when you **kids** try to drink one of us under the table?" Kurenai laughed.

"As always", Naruto and Sasuke replied in a perfect harmony.

"And, we'll win as always", the older brown haired ninja said grinning.

"No, no, not possible. We happen to have a new technique", Naruto laughed.

Sakura smiled to herself, she was glad that this was **her **life. She liked it when Naruto and Sasuke got into a mini-fight with Genma and Kakashi. She liked it when Kurenai tagged along with her, Ino, Hinata and Tenten to do some shopping. She was glad that all of her friends got along well. Except…

She looked at Itachi who was pouring some fresh coffee to his mug. She wondered if he was lonely and sad or just lonely and happy. She wondered if he could ever be part of this group of friends with which she would be celebrating tonight.

'_Huh… Why am I thinking like this? __**Because you wanna be his friend and it seems like you wanna save everyone. Nobody can be lonely, nobody can be sad if you have the right to choose. **__Ha. Maybe. But…' _

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**A/N: I really need to go to bed now, but please review and give me some constructive criticism! G'night!! **


	7. A Start of Something New

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.**

**A/N: I actually like this chapter. ~(^-^)~ Please review!**

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Sakura was waiting for Itachi outside of Tsunade's office. Soon, they'd hear what their first mission together would be.

She was leaning on the wall and tapping her right index finger to it. She did it every time she was bored or nervous. Right now, she was feeling both. She hated waiting and she was nervous about the mission. She hadn't been on field in ages and she was nervous about Itachi. She didn't know if she could trust him, well, she knew she could trust him but she felt betraying Sasuke and half of the village by trusting in him. Even though she knew all that was foolish.

"Too lost in thoughts to even say hi?" a voice said from her left. She startled and looked at Itachi. Yes, she had been too deep in her thoughts.

"Oh, hi", she partly laughed.

"Hi", he smirked and for some seconds, he looked exactly like Sasuke. _'Disturbing'_, she thought to herself and turned her attention to the clock that was hanging on the wall on the other side of the hallway. It was quarter to three pm.

"Have you talked to him?" she asked, she startled herself with that question. _'Pretty forward'_, she thought and stared at him. She could see the confusion painted on his face.

"No."

"Oh", she said, "well, if you need help with that—"

"—you'll be the first person I'll ask", he said grinning again. His happiness took her by surprise, she never thought he'd talk as much as he talked to her or he'd grin happily. She wanted to figure him out but got surprised every time she tried to.

"Sure", she smiled still confused.

Two ninjas came out of the Hokage's office and Tsunade yelled: "Uchiha, Haruno, come in!"

Following their Hokage's orders, they walked into the office.

"Sakura, close the door", the older woman said.

He went in first and she stayed a few steps behind and closed the door. They went to sit on the two chairs in front of Tsunade's desk. The pink haired woman crossed her legs and placed her hands on her lap.

"There's a rogue ninja from the Lighting Country. He has a bloodline limit that everyone seems to want. I want you to take him here."

"Where was he last seen?" Itachi asked.

"In the Water Country. He left Kumogakure and escaped to the Water Country. His name is Sato Ryuji, here's a picture of him", she explained and handed an old picture to Itachi, "leave as soon as possible. You're dismissed."

They left the room and she closed the door behind her. "We should leave tomorrow morning or tonight. There'll be others trying to catch him", she said as they were walking out of the building.

"Yes. If we leave today, we'd be in the Water Country in a day or two."

"How did you expect to get there that fast?" she asked and felt stupid.

"We'll run for a day straight and rest on the boat", he said simply.

She looked at him and nodded in response. She wondered how the mission would go, she knew he was so much stronger than she was and she hoped that he wouldn't have to save her from anything. She hated being the weakest link in a team.

"See you at 8 at the gates", she said.

* * *

Kakashi was setting up the kitchen and living room. He had planned a romantic evening for him and Sakura. He had cooked, bought a bottle of wine and… he had a question for her. A small velvet box was burning in the pocket of his pants. Tonight would be the best day of his life, so far.

He wanted to propose to her during the day so they could spend the evening and night in bed. '_All the ways she can say "yes"'_, he thought and laughed. A normal man would've planned the whole thing for the late evening but he was far from a normal civilian man.

He smiled to himself as he felt Sakura's presence quite near the house. He checked that everything was perfect in the kitchen; roses, wine and the food was on the stove. The afterheat of the stove was keeping the food warm but not burning it.

The front door opened and he walked to the hallway but she was already running up the stairs. "Hiya!" she yelled from upstairs. He followed her to their bedroom and found her packing her backpack the one she used only during missions.

"When are you leaving?" he asked. He hated the fact she'd be in field again. It was simple when she was working only at the hospital, the biggest danger there was an old man suffering from dementia slapping her. But now, he never knew where she was, he couldn't protect her and he might end up losing her.

"At eight o'clock. So in less than 5 hours", she said smiling and walked to her drawer. She took some underwear and stuffed them to the backpack.

"Oh", he said and he felt incredibly stupid, disappointed and… sad.

Apparently she noticed the change in his mood and she walked to him. "You're not wearing your mask", she said quietly smiling and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yeah, thought to save you from the trouble of ripping it off", he laughed a little.

"Good thinking", she said and pressed her lips against his. He was eager to reply to the kiss.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and he put his hands on her lower back. He turned around so that her back was against the wall and he could roam with his hands. She intertwined her fingers with his hair and gently pulled it as he was biting, sucking and kissing her neck.

"Kakashi, bed", she moaned as he was taking her shirt off.

With one swift movement, they were on the bed. He was on top of her but leaning on his knees and hands. She took his shirt off and as she was working on getting his pants on the floor, she suddenly went all rigid.

"What?" he asked. He was confused.

"What's this?" she asked as she took the small velvet box from the pocket of his pants.

'_Shit'_, he thought. He had wished his proposal would be something more romantic than this. She had found the box accidentally and now it would seem like a heat of the moment thing.

He had now words to reply to her and she opened the box. "Oh my", she said, "God."

"This isn't how I wanted it—" he tried to say but she cut him off: "Oh my God, Yes, Kakashi, yes!"

"What?" he asked.

"What? Weren't you gonna ask me?" she asked with confused eyes.

"Well, yeah", he said and tried to get off of her but she pulled him back to her. "Sakura, I just wanted to ask properly. With one knee on the floor", he said smiling.

"Oh. Sure", she said and gave the box back to him. He got off of the bed and kneeled down. She was sitting on the edge of the bed and already crying.

"Sakura", he started and opened the box before her eyes, "would you do the honor and spend the rest of your life with me?"

"Yes!" she partly screamed and cried. He slid the ring to her finger and got back on the bed on top of her.

"Say that again", he said before he bit her neck.

***

It was 7pm and they were still in bed. Kakashi had his arms tightly around her, which made it hard to escape. She hadn't packed, she needed to take a shower and she needed to eat something. And, she knew Kakashi wouldn't let her go easily.

He nuzzled her neck and murmured: "Don't even think about it."

"I have to get up", she said and looked deep into his eyes. His eyes were so full of warmth and love. "I haven't packed, eaten and I need to shower. And I won't be late", she said trying to reason with him. Usually, it didn't work.

"Itachi can wait", he said and kissed her lips lightly.

"I really need to get up. You know I'd love to stay in this bed forever with you but I also love serving my village."

"Yeah yeah, go", he sighed and unwrapped his arms from her.

"Love you like hell", she smiled and kissed him. Before he could wrap his arms around her again, she fled from the bed and vanished into the bathroom.

"You too", he groaned and looked at the ceiling above. He closed his eyes and smiled to himself. _'This is what happiness feels like'_, he thought and slowly, started drifting into sleep.

* * *

Itachi was leaning on a wall next to the huge gates. He hated waiting though he was used to it. From the moment the third Hokage ordered him to murder his clan, his life had been only about waiting. He had been waiting to do missions as a Konoha ninja again, to see his brother again and to live again. Now that he had all that, he was waiting again.

'_Frustrating',_ he thought. He took his cellphone from his pocket and he realized he was 5 minutes early. He stuffed the cellphone back to his pocket and noticed that his little brother was walking toward the gates, to him.

Before he could say anything, Sasuke was already speaking: "I heard you and Sakura are partners for some time. If anything happens to her, you're dead."

"What is she to you?" Itachi asked.

The younger Uchiha looked alarmed for a split of a second and said: "A friend. Best friend."

The older brother nodded in response and Sasuke walked away. He watched as his brother walked down the road which lead to town. He saw Sakura and Kakashi say a few words to Sasuke and then they continued to walking toward the gates.

"Hi", she beamed.

"Yo", Kakashi said.

"We should get going", he answered. He wasn't the kind of guy who liked to talk especially to many people at the same time. He found it useless and he preferred to keep everything to himself. Though, sometimes, he liked talking to Sakura. She was an easy person.

"Hey. Bring her back to me, unharmed", Kakashi grinned.

"Kakashi, I'm fully capable of—"

"—of course", the raven haired man said cutting of her sentence.

She elbowed her fiancé and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "See you", she said softly and walked to the gate guards showing them her gate pass. Itachi followed her and soon they were outside of Konohagakure.

"I'm so sorry about that", she said as they were running through the forest. He glanced at her quickly and kept on, saying nothing. He wasn't sure what he should reply. He had no intention letting her return the village harmed but he wouldn't be her guardian angel either. She was an anbu and she'd better be as good as the other anbus.

"It's ok", he said finally.

"But there's no need to start protecting me. I didn't get to this point by being favored or something", she said almost angrily.

He didn't say anything, it was easier to say nothing. He looked up to the sky to see in which position the sun was. They were in the right direction and if she could only keep up with him, they'd be in the port on the next day, noon.

* * *

Sasuke was standing outside of Itachi's apartment. He could break in and see what it held or he could walk away and trust him. He could try to be adult about the situation or not. But as he thought what he could or should do, he had already made his decision. He didn't trust him. So, he picked the lock to the apartment and went in.

It was big and quite empty. In the kitchen there stove, fridge, kitchen cabinets, a table and two chairs. A sad looking lamp was hanging from the ceiling. There were no pictures on the walls, no rugs on the floor just bare parquet floor.

He walked into the living room. There was a couch, a lamp next to it and a small coffee table. No TV and again, no pictures or paintings. The only thing touching the wall apart from the wallpaper was an empty bookshelf.

The bedroom was as empty as the other rooms. There were a closet, drawer, the bed and two nightstands at both sides of the bed. The bed was made and there was a black bedspread. His eyes caught something peculiar on the nightstand. There was a framed photo turned upside-down. He went to the nightstand and turned it around. It was an old picture of him and Itachi. He must've been 5 or 6 years old in the picture, Itachi was giving him a piggyback ride and they both were smiling widely at the camera.

A long time ago he had come to the conclusion that remembering only brought pain so he had tried his best to forget. He had tried to tell himself that Itachi was only his nemesis not a family member and he could not miss anything he never had. But looking at the picture, memories started flowing into his mind. Memories of the good times he and his brother had shared.

He placed the photo frame back on the nightstand but he didn't place it upside-down.

He had tried denying himself from feelings but it never really had worked. He had cried in the dark alone. He loved Naruto and Sakura, they were his family. And now, he was crying. He was starting to forgive but he knew he could never forget. The memories and feelings always stayed.

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**A/N: So, this chapter was a little bit shorter but the next one will be quite a bit longer. I hope. I think. Anywho, please review!! **

**-danax  
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	8. Thunder and Lightning

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters.**

**A new chapter! Enjoy! Thank you for the support I've gotten along the way!**

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Kakashi woke up feeling the mattress shifting a little. Opening his eyes he saw his love stealing the comforter from him. They always fought for the comforter and usually, he let her win. He was never cold but sleeping under a comforter was a habit. He sighed and pulled a little of it back.

"Hey", he said in a low tone and she opened her eyes to look at him. She smiled a little but he could see something was wrong. "You okay?" he asked. Ever since she had told him she was going to be an ANBU, he had had a bad feeling and now it was only getting stronger.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Tired", she mumbled and closed her eyes again. He moved closer to her and put his right arm around her. She flinched.

"Sakura?" he asked as she wiggled herself from his arms. She didn't say anything and he put his thumb on her cheek and caressed it. He noticed her cheek was wet and she was crying silently. "You're hurt", he stated and was about to turn the lamp on his nightstand on but she took his hand preventing his actions.

"No. Don't. I'm fine. I just have to sleep", she said quietly.

"Show me", he insisted. She didn't move and carefully he pulled the hem of her shirt upper only to reveal several almost black bruises. He took a careful look of her face and noticed a few bruises on her forehead, cheek and neck. "What happened? Is there more? Do you need a doctor?"

"No… I'm fine. It hurts a little but I'll be okay. Be near me, okay?" she whispered and he could see from her face and body language that she was exhausted. She was low on chakra and her body was worn out. He gave her a small kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Of course", he said and she placed her head on his chest. "I'm glad you're back."

"Me too", she said and he could hear that she was smiling a little.

***

When the morning light invaded into the room he woke up. The woman beside him was still asleep, her head resting on his chest. He could've gotten off from the bed without waking her up but he didn't know if moving her would make her bruises ache. On top of that, a bruised woman in his arms made him feel all soft inside.

He wondered what had happened during their mission for her to come home all bruised up and out of chakra. He remembered his ANBU missions and the state he had been in after the first missions. Refusing to go to the hospital, he had learned how to treat wounds with some alcohol and bandages. He glanced at the woman sleeping next to him and thanked higher powers that she was a medic; she was fully capable of healing herself. Alcohol and bandages hadn't been the best way to heal every kind of wound.

"Stop worrying", she said in a frustrated tone, "it's hard to sleep when you go all 'oh no, what if, what if'."

"I'm not all 'oh no, what if, what if'. Just thinking", he chuckled. He wondered when exactly she had learned the power of sarcasm.

"Can you stop thinking? It's affecting my beauty sleep", she laughed to his chest. Before he could answer anything, she started speaking: "Oh well. You make the coffee and I'll take a quick shower and see what I need to heal."

"You seem pretty recovered compared to last night", he stated as she got up into a sitting position. He looked at her back and saw more bruises and cuts. It seemed like there was one deep cut going from the back of her neck to her left shoulder blade. It had bled a bit during the night and her white top had red stains.

"Yeah, well, I recover fast. Plus, last night I was more exhausted from carrying a comatose Itachi. Did you know he's quite heavy…? Compared to cute kittens at least", she laughed and turned to look at him.

"Sakura. What happened? Your face is all swollen. Your back is full of cuts. You have bruises all over you body and Itachi was fainted?" he asked staring at her. Now, he was worried.

Her facial expression changed in a split of a second to something… something he hadn't seen before on her face. "When we got to our target, he wasn't alone. He was being tortured by 4 ninjas, they were high class. Very high class. I got into a really bad situation with two of them. And there was no way that I could've beaten them. They were cutting my skin really deep and they were… **enjoying** it", she explained. She lowered her gaze and it seemed like she was trying really hard to concentrate what happened. "They thought it would've been easier to take me out first and then concentrate to Itachi. I don't know what happened next because I had lost a lot of blood but, he used some kind of jutsu. I only heard the screams. I was lying on my stomach on the ground. He just picked me up from the ground and we treated our worst wounds right away. We completed our mission. Brought what we were supposed to. But right after the mission was completely over, he just collapsed and I had to carry him to his apartment. First I thought he was just out of it. But there was something else, he needed some serious healing."

He was silent just looking at her. His mind was trying to figure out how he had ever agreed to let her be ANBU.

"Hey, you've taught me everything you could've possible teach. And Tsunade taught me the rest I needed to know", she said quietly.

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think how to form the things he was thinking into words. He opened his eyes and said: "I know you can handle yourself. You're still alive. But I don't like it."

"Like me being able staying alive?"

"No", he said sighing, "I don't like it when there's nothing more to teach."

She only stared at him as if she was looking for something in his face. "Well. Shower and coffee."

"Yeah", he grinned and moved closer to her. He kissed her lips gently and got up from the bed. When he reached the door he looked back and said: "And now you're all "oh wow, wow, more, more'."

"Shut up", she laughed.

* * *

Itachi was lying on his bed half comatose. He had been completely out of chakra but he was regaining it quickly though he still felt that he should stay in bed… for now. He didn't remember the last time a mission had been that difficult. But, he knew why. He wasn't used to be in missions with someone apart from Kisame. Now it was different, he wasn't a rogue anymore. He'd be blamed if someone died on a mission with him, he felt the **need** to protect others on missions. After a long time trying to kill his emotions, regaining them now made him feel uneasy.

There weren't a lot of things that could make him feel uneasy anymore. He had done the worst and best thing for his village, he had seen his friends and family die and he had abandoned something that a small part of him craved back. Getting back emotions was one of the few things he had learned how to learn without. He had done what needed to be done. All that time having emotions was a weakness. Now, having emotions was considered as strength.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts and with a little effort, he got up from the bed and walked to the door. He found an angry looking pink haired ninja behind it. Before he could ask anything, she was already talking: "You should not be up, yet. Go back to bed. Right now!"

He shrugged, turned around and started walking back to his bedroom. "Hey, to you, too", he sighed, "how am I supposed to open the door if I'm not allowed to get up from the bed?" He sat on his bed and looked at the now annoyed looking woman.

"You should've bought a cat", she said as if he should've known that.

"Cats can open doors?" he laughed.

She glared him and notified: "If they are taught to open doors."

He wasn't sure what to say anymore. She seemed to be in an impossible mood. He tried not laugh but failed miserably; he burst into laughter and fell on his back on the bed.

"Not that funny", she said but she also laughed a little, "so, betting on my knowledge of the stubbornness of Uchihas, you haven't gone to the hospital today." She sat on the bed next to him and again, glared at him.

"True", he said.

"Take your shirt off. I need to see them", she said. He rolled his eyes and lifted his body to a sitting position. He didn't say anything but obliged to her request and took his shirt off, revealing all the wounds and scars he had received along the years. As he looked at her, he thought he saw a small blush under her eyes but it was gone the second he had seen that. He had no time to think before he already felt the healing chakra push its way into the wounds on his torso. It calmed his mind and relaxed his body. He had to fight hard to stay awake or fall back on his back.

A small laugh escaped her lips and the healing chakra stopped flowing into his body. "You should sleep."

"You drugged me", he sighed and closed his eyes momentarily. It became more and more difficult to keep them open.

"Something like that. If you need anything—"

"—thank you. But I'll manage", he said and opened his eyes again. His eyes focused on her face but it was a bit blurry.

"I'll leave you to sleep. See you later!" she said with a small laugh and left the room. He didn't hear the door open or close.

* * *

Naruto was on his bed, too bored to get up. It was his free day. He had a tennis ball in his right hand and he kept on throwing it at the door and catching it as it bounced back to him and throwing it again. His left hand was under his head and it was getting numb. He moved his fingers and felt tingling. He threw the ball at the door, while it was in mid air the door opened and Sasuke caught the ball.

"Oi", the blond ninja laughed out as his friend glared at him.

"Still not fast enough to beat me", the raven haired ninja laughed and threw the ball back to Naruto. He caught it. Naruto lifted his body to a sitting position and swung his legs to the floor.

Sasuke leaned on the doorframe. Naruto noticed he was smiling lightly, which was rare for the Uchiha prodigy. "What?" the blond ninja asked.

"Three points, you need two to win. First mission: we run to Border town and back. The first one back at the gates gets one point. Second mission: a game of shougi, winner gets one point. And the last mission: a match, the last one standing gets the last point", Sasuke explained and Naruto found himself gawking at his friend. This was the first time his friend suggested a competition.

He got up from the bed and smiled widely, "You're on. But first, we go to Ichiraku's."

A couple of customers were just leaving the ramen bar as Naruto and Sasuke got there. The owner smiled widely as he saw the blond ninja and waved his hand happily at the friends. "What can I get to my best customers?" he asked laughing.

They made their orders, both of them ordered three different kinds of ramen. Naruto was the first one to order and ordering less would've meant a defeat for Sasuke so he followed his friend's example.

"We need judges for the competition", the blond ninja stated and finished eating his second bowl.

"You're right", Sasuke agreed. He put the chopsticks down on the counter and looked at his friend who was stuffing the contents of the last bowl of ramen into his mouth. He couldn't figure out how someone could eat the same food almost every day.

"We could get Shikamaru to be the judge on the game of shougi. Maybe he'll enjoy it", Naruto said.

"Yeah. Though, he won't get to play and we're no geniuses."

"True. Kakashi could be the judge on the battling", the blond ninja notified. He took a napkin from the counter and wiped his mouth. "And, I guess Sakura might actually enjoy being the judge on the running. Maybe she could even run with us."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. He was more than ready to start their small competition.

"Let's go find Sakura. Speed challenge was the first?" Naruto said and got up from his stool. "Let's see who's first at their house!" Both of them glared each other quickly and started running as fast as they could.

* * *

Sakura was meditating in the backyard as she felt her best friends coming near to the house.

First, she had been just concentrating on breathing steadily and then on all the presences around her. She had felt the autumn leaves falling around her whenever the wind played with the branches of the trees. She had felt that everything was connected.

At some point, her meditation had turned into practicing chakra manipulation. She had concentrated chakra to almost every part of her body. She had realized she could concentrate her chakra to her insides and try to search any wounds or scratches or anything wrong inside of her body. Because it was her first time trying that, it had taken a lot of focus to even try. But as she felt the ninjas at the backyard, she opened her eyes.

"What were you doing?" Naruto asked and sat next to her. He took a yellow leaf from the ground and looked at it intently.

"Focusing chakra to different parts of my body", she said smiling. She looked at the raven haired man who sat in front of them. She was about to ask what they were planning but Naruto was faster and started speaking: "But that's easy. You looked so concentrated."

She turned her attention to the blond ninja and smiled widely, "I was trying to see if I can concentrate chakra on my insides and then use it to search if there was anything to be healed."

"Did it work?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, it did. But it's hard."

"I know you can do it", Naruto said and put his arm around her shoulders, "now, we need your help with something."

She had known Naruto and Sasuke a very long time and something in the tone of his voice told her whatever they had in their minds, it might be fun. She glanced at Sasuke who was partly smiling. She figured he didn't even know that. "What is it?"

"We're going to run to the Border town and back and see who's faster. You have to run with us and make sure Sasuke doesn't cheat."

She laughed at that and Sasuke threw a small twig from the grass at his friend. "I don't need to cheat to win you", he said. The twig landed on Naruto's hair.

"That actually sounds fun", she said before Naruto could start the infamous who-is-the-better-ninja-fight with Sasuke.

* * *

The three ninjas were at the gates deciding the rules. They had agreed that Naruto and Sasuke had to run into the town and find Sakura, give her a high five and only then, they were allowed to run back to Konoha. That wouldn't be a problem for her because during her training over the years, she had gotten faster whereas the men grew stronger. She knew she'd be in the town before them and she'd be back in Konoha before them. All the extra training with the Copy ninja had paid off in one way or two…

They stepped out of the gates into the forest and looked around. "Are you guys ready?" she asked and glanced to her right where Sasuke was. He nodded. She glanced to her left where Naruto was and he gave her the thumbs up. "Alright."

"Yo!" they heard Kakashi's voice behind them and turned around. She was puzzled why he was there but the feeling faded away as his gaze lingered on her. She was amazed by the fact how after over a year of being together, he still made her feel the thunder and lightning inside of her.

"We were just about to start a race", she said smiling as he walked closer to them.

"Don't. Tsunade summoned us", he said. She felt her shoulders slumping down. She was excited about the race. She knew Naruto and Sasuke had been, too.

"Oh well. I guess we should go then", Sakura said with a sad voice and glanced at her friends.

The four of them started walking back into the village and toward the Jounin HQ. She walked next to the Copy ninja and he took her hand in his. He squeezed her hand lightly and she felt the happiest person walking on Earth.

"Do you know what it was about?" the raven haired ninja asked from the older man.

"No."

"Wonder if she's stepping down from the thrown and giving it to me", Naruto thought aloud making all of them laugh. She liked his optimism, no, she loved his optimism. The way he'd find the light from the darkest places was something she loved about her friend. Some people would say it was false hope Naruto sometimes clung on to but she knew that wasn't the case. He saw the light in the darkness and walked to it even if he stumbled once or twice, he'd walk into the light.

* * *

"Our contacts in the Water Country have confirmed that there have been several attacks during the past couple of days. There are small towns which are… completely empty. Not even bodies", Tsunade explained as she walked from her desk to her bookshelf. She let her fingers trace on the books but the moment her fingers touched an old looking brown book, momentarily she stopped her movements. She took the book from the bookshelf and opened it.

"I'm sending you there to investigate. I have a feeling that the Mizushima clan had something to do with the attacks."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and spoke: "What's so special about the Mizushimas?"

"Mizushima clan has a bloodline limit. Sakura and Itachi successfully caught one rogue ninja that was part of that clan. He's held captive but he's not speaking as much as I want him to. I need to find out more about the bloodline and the clan overall", she explained and placed the book in her hands to her desk. She looked at the ninjas in the room; Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Itachi. "Hatake will be the team leader", she said and the Copy ninja nodded.

After receiving the facts of their new mission, the younger ninjas had left the room but Kakashi stayed. He needed to talk to Tsunade. She had sat down behind her desk and was eyeing the paper stacks on her desk.

"All marriage licenses go through you", he started hitting straight to the point. He didn't like to talk between the lines.

"Yes", she agreed and lifted her eye brow.

"I proposed to Sakura just before she left to the mission with Itachi", he said looking straight into the lady Hokage's eyes. The older woman crossed on her desk and looked down at the brown book in front of her.

"Ah, didn't expect that so soon. Well, I will give permission you two to marry."

He felt relieved. He had been Sakura's teacher and he had thought in the back of his mind that maybe Tsunade wouldn't approve.

"But, I've read the third Hokage's notes. There was something that caught my eye. You were engaged before?"

He felt grateful for the mask he was wearing. For a split of a second, his facial expression was shocked. His past wasn't something he wanted to share especially when it might reach Sakura's ears. "Yes", he said evenly.

"It ended badly", she stated. It wasn't a question but he nodded. "She doesn't take heartbreaks easily. So, for Sakura's sake, I need to be sure that your engagement won't end badly."

"Of course", he said and she dismissed him.

Walking back home, he thought about his past, about his mistakes. In a way, he didn't regret any of his actions back then but he regretted the pain he had caused. He wasn't that man anymore and woman he would marry wasn't the same one as over a decade ago.

* * *

**A/N: Isn't fun to be left in suspense? **


	9. Inside Out

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.**

**A/N: Thank you so much for the support you give me! It really means a lot, I hope you know that.**

**Oh, and I found a song that inspired some new ideas for the new chapter: Inside Out by Kate Voegele. So I named this chapter after that song and when you've finished reading this chapter, you'll understand why. XD  
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* * *

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_FLASHBACK_

_Kakashi was watching out of the window. It was raining and the world seemed somewhat gray. The water trickled down the smooth surface of the window forming lines and finally vanishing from his sight. _

_He was in the kitchen and Aiko was sitting by the table. He knew without looking that she had her arms crossed on her chest. He could hear her breathing unsteadily; she was crying. He couldn't bear looking at her. All the pain and the blame were on him. Only on him. _

"_Why?" she whimpered. How many times she had asked that question, he had lost the count. That was all she had been able to say for a few hours now. It had been all he had been able to think about since… since he confessed everything. _

_He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how he had let it all happen. "I'm sorry", he managed to say quietly. It only made her cry harder. He wished he could turn around, walk to her and hold her. But that was impossible, he was glad to be able to be even in the same room with her. _

_He heard her shifting a little on the chair. There was a small clinging sound and the chair moved. He closed his eyes momentarily and tried to gather his thoughts. He knew exactly what the sound was. Opening his eyes and turning around, he found himself alone in the room. She had left. _

_The engagement ring lied lonely on the white table. _

_THE END OF THE FLASHBACK_

Carefully watching the woman in front of him he knew the abrupt ending of his previous relationship had been a good thing in the long run. Sakura made him feel when he felt dead inside, she understood him better than anyone ever had. He was sure of his feelings but thinking back, he wasn't sure if he had been sure of his feelings years before when he had been with Aiko.

Sakura was leaping from branch to branch silently, gracefully. Every now and then she'd turn her head slightly to stick her tongue out at him and speed up her pace as a challenge. It made him smile under his mask and he too would leap faster. Challenges made by over a decade younger **girl** didn't scare him, more like excited him. She made him feel younger… especially when he won. And, seeing her sulking after losing was a price itself.

"Did you know that you're old enough to be a grandpa?" she asked laughing. Sakura was almost next to him, close enough to touch. He glared at her with his visible eye causing her to giggle. He shook his head slightly and sighed. She also made him feel very old at times.

"If I had a kid when I was 16. And he had a kid when he was 16. But when I was 16, I didn't have time for women", he notified hoping she'd change the subject. But he knew she never did.

"Can I assume then that you were a virgin when you were 16 years old?" she asked and laughed harder.

Her question shocked him. Where did she get her thoughts? Did he want to talk about losing his virginity? No. Again, he looked at her sternly and fortunately for him, she got the hint and fell silent. Though, he could see her still shaking from silent laughter.

"I don't want to hear **anything** about Kakashi's sex life. Nothing! Not a thing!" Naruto yelled from a few meters away from them. The blond ninja felt obligated to "lead" the group as always. And, Sasuke felt obligated to try to take the first place.

The Copy ninja shot another glare at his lover. It was an if-this-turns-into-a-conversation-I-will-have-my-revenge –glare and her body seemed to stiffen a little. He smirked under his mask. She was afraid of his revenges.

Thinking more about his past, it had been the best thing in his life that the engagement had ended. But only the way it had ended haunted him.

The forest became sparse as they got closer to their destination. There weren't as many spruces anymore so they needed to continue their journey on the ground.

After hitting the ground, he looked up and saw dark clouds. The clouds hinted for a storm and the air felt hot and pressuring. They might have to stay in the town for the night. He smiled at the irony of their situation, searching for a place to sleep from an empty town. Others in the team seemed to have had the same conclusion as him.

Sakura glanced at his direction and he noticed her eyes were stained with worry. She had never liked the thunder or lightning. They came out of nowhere just as suddenly as enemy ninjas did sometimes, she said thunder or lightning didn't have a physical form. She had said she was afraid of only the lack of knowledge. It made perfectly sense to him.

"When we get to the town, we search it and if the weather allows it, we continue to the next village", Kakashi said loudly and received "ok's and yeah's.

They decided to have a small break before it would start raining too much to be sitting on the ground. He was eating an apple under a big oak tree. He felt a light weight pressing on his shoulder and noticed Sakura sitting next to him. She was leaning to his shoulder with her head. He had barely even noticed her sitting down next to him.

"You look worried", she said quietly as he was studying her face.

"Yeah", he admitted and turned his gaze to in front of him his eyes really seeing nothing. He was worried but they came from fear. He couldn't remember the last time he had been truly afraid. Even in battlefields seemed somewhat safe when it came to… he wasn't sure what he was exactly afraid of. Losing Sakura as he had lost Aiko? He knew it'd never happen again.

"I think we should go soon", the woman next to him said and placed a quick peck on his masked cheek.

"Yeah", he agreed and stood up from the ground.

* * *

The small town reeked eeriness with its silence and gray post-rain colors. The air was misty and it felt like they cold reached the bones in their bodies. They felt no presences anywhere nearby and it seemed like there were no animals either. Some doors were left open and they were creaking from the wind.

"Oh wow", the pink haired woman said in amazement. She wasn't sure if she should turn away and follow her instincts and leave the town. But she forced herself to stand her ground as they watched the town in silence.

"Team up. I want nobody searching for clues here alone", Kakashi said evenly, "Naruto, Sakura and Itachi, you're together. And Sasuke will be with me. You take the east side and we'll go through the west side of the town. Meet up here in three hours."

She glanced at the men in her just assembled team and they started running to the west part of the town. The closest building to them was a big grocery store and the found it completely empty, abandoned. Cash registers were still turned on. There were fruits and vegetables on the floor but they could find no signs of struggle or anything. It was just a big and empty grocery store.

They went through the whole street building by building finding nothing but empty apartments. Again, there were no signs of struggle. Fridge doors were left open, some showers and taps in kitchens were still turned on.

Especially one house struck Sakura. It was a normal two floored house with three bedrooms but the master's bedroom caught her attention. There was a beautiful mahogany dressing table with a big mirror. A chair was in front of the table. Its place told that someone had been sitting on it and when the person had left, they hadn't bothered to move it to its original place. On the table lay an open powder case. The powder puff was on the table and there was still some powder on it. She could see that the wetness of the air had ruined the powder and it had darkened. She knew no woman would put on make-up and leave the powder case and the puff on the table like that. It was as if the woman had just sat up from the chair in front of the table and walked away not caring about anything.

"Found something?" she heard Itachi asking from behind her. She turned her head to look at him and shake her head, "Nah. It seems like the people really just left, **willingly**."

He nodded and glanced behind him as Naruto walked through the hallway to them. "Mizushima clan", the raven haired man said simply.

"Why would a clan make hundreds of people leave their homes?" Naruto asked turning the attention to him, "And where did they go? There has been really nothing on the news about… about nothing."

"We should go and see if Sasuke and Kakashi have found something", she said and turned her back on the dressing table.

Mizushimas could control other people using a large cloud of mist. The size of the cloud was always related to the amount of people they wanted to influence. Only the eldest of Mizushimas could control big crowds of people. It was a bloodline limit of some kind but not very useful in battles because summoning the mist was a long process and it left the summoner unprotected. They could make anyone do anything; Kages of hidden villages or normal civilian people. Of course, ninjas could fight against the jutsu but no-one had ever heard of anyone even surviving from it. Mizushimas never left survivors.

When Sakura, Itachi and Naruto reached others they figured out that Kakashi and Sasuke had found the town as empty as they had. It had been thundering warningly for an hour or so and the Copy ninja decided they would stay in the nearest house and rest.

"I think we might need some food", Sakura notified as they entered a big townhouse. She was the first one to enter and she took off of her shoes and walked slowly along the hallway.

"There might be something in the cupboards in the kitchen", the blond haired ninja said and hurried to walk next to his pink haired friend.

"That'd be stealing", Itachi stated and walked past the others in the hallway. He had been the last one to enter the house, it made her wonder where he was hurrying to.

"Yea", Sasuke cut into the conversation, "he's right. The owners might come back."

They entered a big lounge that had three sofas circling a coffee table. There were also long dark red curtains and behind the coffee table was a TV. She looked around but didn't see Itachi. She dropped her backpack on the floor next to the couch closest to her and decided to sit down for a moment. Naruto and Sasuke followed her example and also sat on the sofas.

The blond ninja put his feet on the coffee table and groaned. She rolled her eyes at him and he gawked at her: "What?"

"Pay some respect, it's not your house", she said coolly and slowly, he took his feet off of the table.

She looked around and didn't see either Kakashi or Itachi. Before she could ask where they had gone, the older Uchiha walked down the stairs holding a kitten in his arms. It was small and its fur was black and its eyes were bright green.

Sakura wasn't sure if she was supposed to laugh, be shocked or do both. She had never thought Itachi had a thing for cats. Or cats liked him, the kitten in his arms was purring. Also, they had thought the town was completely empty. But Kakashi and Naruto would've said something if they had found a cat from the house.

"Whaaat?" she asked silently and jumped off of the couch and walked to the man. She scratched under the kitten's jaw a little. "I thought the town was empty", she said and turned her attention to the man in front of her.

"Yeah. She was hiding under a bed", Itachi said.

"How did you know it was here?" Naruto asked. He had walked to them and he was about to take the kitten in his arms from Itachi but the cat resisted by trying to scratch him. He stopped his intentions and looked at Itachi questioningly.

"Saw something in the window outside and thought I should check it out", he explained and walked to the sofa Sakura had been sitting on. He sat down still holding the cat.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Naruto and Sasuke. It seemed like they were as dumbfounded as she was.

"Who's up to going to some grocery store to get some food?" Kakashi asked from the doorway to another room. He was leaning on the doorframe and his exposed crinkled eye exposed his grin.

It thundered powerfully and she shuttered. She didn't want to go outside.

"I can go", the blond ninja said. He just wanted to make sure they would eat ramen, she was sure of it.

* * *

It was early morning and they were about to leave the house. The men were outside waiting for the pink haired ninja as she was trying to find where the cat was. She believed if they left the kitten, she'd die. Even though she knew, the cat would be just fine. But she didn't want to leave the poor creature. She found the kitten in the living room on a sofa and she was asleep. Carefully, Sakura picked her up from the couch and held her tightly against chest. The cat refused to be in anyone else's arms except Itachi's so she needed to use a little (not too much) force to keep her still.

"Sakura, we are not taking the cat with us", Sasuke notified as if he was the team leader.

Maybe it was her maternal instincts but she couldn't leave the little cat there all alone. She turned her attention to Kakashi who was staring at her. She had known him long enough to detect his emotions from his eyes and right now, he wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry.

"The cat doesn't even like you", the oldest man said matter-of-factly.

"But. But", she started to say something in defense when a thought popped into her head, "Itachi can carry it! She loves him! And she's tiny enough to fit in his chest pocket!"

All eyes turned from Sakura and the cat to Itachi who looked nonchalant. He nodded slightly and she brought the cat to him. As he took the kitten in his arms, she stopped fighting and started purring. He opened his jacket and placed the small ball of fur into his chest pocket.

"Can we go now?" the blond ninja asked and she nodded.

They headed toward the next empty town which was one day's journey to North-East.

The rest of the towns were as empty as the first one. They found out nothing except Mizushimas were the ones behind making the people abandon their homes.

* * *

They had returned Konoha on a cloudy morning and by a silent agreement they had decided to go out to a bar later during the evening. To Sakura it all seemed a typical evening, Genma was buying her drinks and trying to get her drunk enough to leave Kakashi and sleep with him, the Copy ninja himself was quite drunk judging by his droopy eye and Naruto had convinced some ninjas to take a part in a drinking game. But. Itachi was with them he was at the same table and he had a beautiful blonde ninja sitting next to him; Ino. She was openly flirting with him, throwing herself at him and licking his ear and every possible uncovered body part. Sakura did her best not to stare at them but most of the time she couldn't resist and she watched.

A rough man's hand placed a drink of some kind in front of her and she followed the arm to its owner with her gaze. Genma smiled widely for a short second and drunk some of his new pint of beer.

"Thanks", she said smiling and grabbed her new drink. She had a feeling she'd need the intoxication.

"No prob. So, the mission went fine?" the older man next to her asked.

She nodded and said: "Yeah. Kinda freaky but it was as successful as it could've been. Plus, we smuggled a cat for the older Uchiha. No, he smuggled a cat for himself."

"Why do I have a feeling that you had something do with him taking a cat with him?" he laughed and she joined the laugher. But as his laughter died suddenly and his attention was focused on something she followed his gaze to a woman a few meters away from their table. Aiko was there.

Sakura felt her heart dropping from her chest and hitting the sticky bar floor. She glanced at her love who had already gotten up from his seat. She wished the brunette woman would cease to exist.

Aiko was standing tall in her high heels. She had long chocolate brown hair and they were a little curly. Sakura was jealous of her hair, she wanted to have brown hair and look as stunning in it as Kakashi's former love did. She also had high cheekbones which were naturally slightly pink.

Noticing the brunette was crying and there were still tears rolling down her cheeks, her inner alarm system went off. Her mind played over different scenes where Aiko would tell Kakashi she still needed him and he'd end up kissing her.

Biting her left inner cheek hard, she tried to aim her anger toward something else than breaking the table in front of her.

"Sakura, it's nothing", Genma said and he sounded somewhat angry. She glanced at him and saw that everyone who had known Kakashi quite long was staring at her.

"Yeah", she said and drank the rest of her drink, "I think I'm gonna go home. Don't want to have a hangover tomorrow."

"I'll walk ya", the brown haired man said.

* * *

**A/N: Writing this chapter took me tooo long. But I have a lame excuse! I got a new job and I've been working 30 hours in a week. Anywho, please tell me what you think and I'd love some constructive criticism (what was good and what could be improved). -danax**


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